Akasathinte Niram

Akasathinte Niram (English: The Colour of Sky) is a 2012 Malayalam film written and directed by Dr. Biju.[1] The film was shot entirely on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a cast that includes Indrajith, Nedumudi Venu, Amala Paul and Prithviraj.[2] The film revolves around a burglar who is trapped on a scarcely populated island and his getting to understand how nature blends with life. It premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2012. It was subsequently screened at various film festivals where it received several honours.

Akasathinte Niram
Film poster
Directed byDr. Biju
Produced byK. Anil Kumar
Written byDr. Biju
StarringIndrajith
Nedumudi Venu
Amala Paul
Prithviraj
Anoop Chandran
Master Govardhan
Music byIsaac Thomas Kottukapally
CinematographyM. J. Radhakrishnan
Edited byManoj
Distributed byKalasangham Films
Release date
  • June 2012 (2012-06) (Shanghai International Film Festival)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Synopsis

A 60-year-old man lives on a pristine, isolated island. He visits the nearby harbour in a motor boat once a month to sell handicrafts. A young burglar keeps tabs on him and one day jumps onto the motor boat and demands money. The old man remains calm and takes the motor boat towards his island where the young man remains trapped. He meets the people who live with the old man, a 7-year-old boy, a 20-year-old deaf and mute lady and a middle-aged man with a stammer. The intruder confronts rare life situations for the first time. His concept about life changes as he understands how nature blends with life.

Cast
  • Indrajith as the Young man
  • Nedumudi Venu as the Old man
  • Amala Paul as the Young Lady
  • Prithviraj as Doctor
  • Anoop Chandran as Helper
  • Master Govardhan as Boy
  • Indrans as Helper
  • V. K. Sreeraman as Writer
  • Geetha Salaam as Worker
  • C. J. Kuttappan as Singer
  • Biju John as Painter
  • Shaji Sharma as the Man on wheelchair

Production

The film was produced by K. Anil Kumar under the banner of Ambalakkara Global Films. Isaac Thomas Kottukappally composed the background score while the songs are composed by Ravindra Jain and sung by K. J. Yesudas and others. M. J. Radhakrishnan, who had cranked camera for Dr. Biju's earlier films, Location sync sound and sound design is by Jayadevan Chakkadath while Pramod Thomas handles the sound mixing. Bindu Sajan was assistant director. The film's production design was by Santosh Raman.[3]

The film was entirely shot on a tiny island Neil, located 40 kilometers to the south of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. A wooden shore house was set for the film.[3]

Release

The world premiere of the film was at the Shanghai International Film Festival on 19 June 2012. The film was an official selection in the International Competition section for the prestigious Golden Goblet award. This was the first Malayalam film compete for the Golden Goblet award at Shanghai.[4] The film released in theatres in India on 20 July 2012.[3] It was also released in the US in the first week of November.[5]

Festival screenings

The film was an official selection for the following film festivals:

Reception

Critical response

Paresh C. Palicha of Rediff.com wrote a positive review and gave a 3/5 rating. The reviewer said, "This somewhat meditative treatment runs the risk of distancing the viewer. One can see the influence of the Japanese master Akira Kurosawa's Dreams and South Korean director Kim Ki Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring here. One can also see that leaving the characters nameless is becoming Dr Biju's stamp: every character was nameless in his previous film Veettilekkulla Vazhi. In the end, we can say that this visually grand film is meditative in nature and silently attractive."[8]

C. Sujit Chandra Kumar of Deccan Chronicle gave the film four stars in a scale of five.[9]

Metromatinee.com also published a positive write-up which reads: "If you miss this, you will miss a good color of Malayalam film." [10]

However, Aswin Kumar of The Times of India wrote an average review and gave a 2/5 rating and said, "The sequences, in spite of their moving visuals, seldom linger in the viewer's mind. They don't leave anything behind."[11]

Awards

The film has received the following honours:

New York Indian Film Festival
  • 2013: Best Screenplay - Dr. Biju[12]
Imagine India Film Festival
  • 2013: Best Music - Issac Thomas Kottukappally
Kerala State Film Awards

References
  1. "Dr Biju with 'Aakashathinte Niram'". Indiaglitz.com. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  2. "Amala Paul lands into Mollywood". Indiaglitz.com. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  3. Sangeeta (19 July 2012). "The sea inside". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  4. Saraswathy Nagarajan (25 May 2012). "Shanghai beckons". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  5. "Will M’wood make it to the Oscars?". The Times of India. 14 October 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  6. "A Panorama of choice" Archived 20 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Khaleej Times. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  7. "Seven Malayalam films in IFFK feature section". The Hindu. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  8. "Review: Akashathinte Niram is silently attractive - Rediff.com Movies". Rediff.com. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  9. C. Sujit Chandra Kumar (22 July 2012). "Akashathinte Niram review: Chekhov effect to the fore". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  10. "Aakashathinte Niram Malayalam Movie Review". Metromatinee.com. 12 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  11. Aswin Kumar. "Akashathinte Niram movie review". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  12. Jim Luce (25 May 2013). "NY Indian American Film Festival Triumphant in 13th Year". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
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