Anarkali (2015 film)

Shanthanu Varma (Prithviraj), a former navy officer, pines over Nadira Imam (Priyal Gor) , whom he loved 11 years ago. Since Nadira was a minor back then , he had to leave the Navy because of his affair with her. Presently, Shanthanu travels to Kavaratti, Lakshadweep to work as a swimming trainer.

On reaching there, he meets Aatta Koya (Suresh Krishna) who was awaiting his arrival. During the checking procedure by the coastal police, a man (Sudev Nair) is found to have fake documents. He escapes from the cops by jumping into the ocean. Shanthanu, on seeing this, jumps in and catches him. This turns out to be a planned mock drill called Gemini, conducted twice in a year.

Shanthanu's friend Zachariah (Biju Menon) works as the lighthouse operator at Kavaratti. When Shanthanu goes to meet him, Zachariah hides due to the past issues between them. But Shanthanu succeeds in finding him regardless. Seeing Zachariah's anguish in seeing him, Shanthanu reveals the real motto of his arrival to Kavaratti- to find Nadira's brother Naseeb Imam (Sudev Nair),who works at the naval base in Kavaratti. On hearing this, Zachariah gets triggered as Shanthanu is still not over Nadira. But Shanthanu consoles him to help him find Naseeb.

The movie cuts back to 11 years ago when Shanthanu and Zachariah were working in the navy. There he met Nadira and fell in love with her, who was his commanding and flag officer Jaffer Imam's daughter. Jaffer finds out about their relationship and strictly refuses the affair. They were presented at the naval court, where Shanthanu comes to know that Nadira was a minor. But Nadira was firm in her decision of being in a relationship with Shanthanu. She says that she will prove their love to everyone after being a major. These words surprised Shanthanu as he didn't expect that. Shanthanu and Zachariah were dismissed.

Lakshadweep being an island, a helicopter takes off to the city from there ,once a week. When Shanthanu and Zachariah go to the helicopter, they meet the man who pretended to be a thief when Shanthanu first came to Kavaratti. He says that he is going to Kochi. On his departure, Shanthanu feels something strange. He checks the man's identity and gets shocked when he finds out that he was Naseeb. He feels helpless as his final hope of meeting Nadira went in vain.

Then he narrates what happened after 5 years . For the first few years Shanthanu and Nadira keep in touch through recorded CDs, which Jaffer eventually finds out and prevents her from sending.They lose all contact but till date Shanthanu is awaiting her, and so is she.

Coming back to present times, Shanthanu is telling his story to everyone in Kavaratti.All of them sympathize with him. They tell him that they will help him find her. After some days Naseeb comes back and meets Shanthanu. He informs him that Nadira is still waiting for him, but she left home due to everyday fights with her father over his name.

Shanthanu wanted to meet her as soon as possible. So he decides to take the helicopter from there. But the helicopter could only be used for urgent purposes.So he and Zachariah come up with a plan where Shanthanu acts as if he is poisoned so that he can go to the city for medical care since the medical options available there were limited and didn't include modern equipment. For that, first the Kavaratti medical superintendent Dr. Sherin Mathew (Miya) has to confirm that he is in need of emergency medical attention. When taken to the hospital she confirms that he needs emergency medical care and he was immediately taken to the city along with Zachariah and Naseeb. On their way to Kochi, Shanthanu vomits blood, and Zachariah comes to know that he wasn't faking it. Zachariah panics and tell the pilot to reach their destination faster.

On reaching there, Shanthanu, in his half wake state sees Nadira waiting there for him crying as Naseeb already informed her. He is taken to the hospital where all his relatives, Nadira and Jaffer are waiting eagerly outside the ICU. Doctors inform them that he will be fine. He insists on meeting Nadira, and Jaffer allows her to be with him.

After some days they are shown to be together. They go to a religious place and a man over there says that their names had a strange yet blissful connection. Shanthanu was another name for Prince Salim and Nadira meant Anarkali alluding to the famous love story of Salim and Anarkali.

Priyal Gor and Miya were signed for the lead female roles. While the former would play the main lead as Nadira Imam, teenage daughter of a Rear Admiral in the Indian Navy, the latter's role is that of a supporting character, Dr. Sherin Mathew, who works in Kavarathi.[4] Story of the film is based on two Naval officers, Prithviraj and Biju Menon in the Indian Navy. Bollywood actor Kabir Bedi was cast as Nadira's father, Jaffer Imam, who is a commanding officer of base hailing from Lucknow and Sachi said that both Kabir and Priyal would speak mostly in Hindi and English in the film.[4] Director Shyamaprasad was selected for a pivotal role and his character Commodore Madhavan Nair was said to be crucial to the film.[4] Samskruthy Shenoy was later chosen to portray Duvha, a "Pucca Muslim woman" from Lakshwadweep, who is a medical student who left her studies shy of 1 year, due to a love affair and works as a physician assistant.[5] Other supporting roles were given to directors Major Ravi, Renji Panicker and Madhupal. Sujith Vassudevv and Vidyasagar were signed as the cinematographer and music director, respectively.

The soundtrack was released on 23 October 2015 with songs composed by Vidyasagar and lyrics written by Rajeev Nair and Manoj Muntashir. The "over and over" song was written by Radhika Nair and composed by Sreevalsan J. Menon[6]

Anarkali was released on 13 November 2015.

• Anarkali at IMDb