Kaalapani

I remember that I had gone with my family to watch its Hindi dubbed version in theatres, 25 years back. And the theatre was almost completely empty. Who will pay to watch such *Fat heroes, with moustaches* is what I remember one of my family member as commenting?

I have been reading two part biography on Savarkar and as it's complimentary piece, decided to watch it. And I have been blown away by how ahead of its times, this was.

The story may seem fantastical but it is breathtakingly close to real events. The tortures perpetrated by real life characters are too horrific and their horror is magnified many folds by the fact that they were true.

Mohan Lal , Anu Kapoor and Amrish Puri are stand out performers. Puri is evil incarnate as Mirza Khan and this may just be his most powerful act as a villain, completely sold on the philosophy of barbarity.

It is truly a magnum opus. The fact that it is not more widely watched is unfortunate as it sheds light on the plight of the freedom fighters in the era of the Great War. Very highly recommended.

One of the finest movies I have ever seen. Though lots of violence depicted, but they are required by the plot. Can compete with any movie in the international arena, be it for story, treatment, direction, acting, cinematography or whatever. A must see for serious movie buffs.

Saying simply, this movie was released in a wrong time and it didn't received the applause which it deserved...

This movie should have made and released now instead of Marakkar movie which is no where near to Kalaapani, the master piece.

"Saza E Kala Pani" is a period film on early 19th century when the British rulers sent the prisoners to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a punishment. The film effectively portrays the sufferings the prisoners had to endure in the Islands. The film was made in Malayalam; so the narration of the film at times is very obscure. Forget it if you are going for entertainment. The film is highly remarkable for the hard hitting account of the gruesome sufferings perpetuated from the film which is rarely accounted in the movies. The film succeeds in recreating a part of the history with highly realized and terrifying accounts of atrocities done to the prisoners which makes it an Indian equivalent of "Schindler's List." The film deserves the acclaim for its hardly realized historical accounts, photography, and performances.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

Normally the director of this movie used to make comedy oriented movie. In fact this was his first movie in a non-comic fashion. This movie depicts the lives of fellow Indian prisoners in a jail situated in Andaman Islands in the time where Britishers were ruling India.The tortures and humiliations they faced during their imprisonment. This also shows how patriotic they were.

There are lot of such movies(which sells patriotism) released in India till now . But this movie is somewhat differently made from all the other makes. The main reason can be that this movie is mostly made using the real facts that happened during that time in Andaman.

This movie used all new technologies of that time to build sch a gem kind of visual experience. This was in fact the most expensive movie of Malayalam Industry at that time. But as it lacked the commercial elements which were essential for a movie to be hit , this registered as a flop movie in Malayalam movie industry. But till date, I can easily say that this is the first movie which is deserved to be in the list of top rated patriotic movies made in India . This even dubbed into several other regional languages of India.

Coming to technology side , this movie was perfect in this case too .Priyadarshan was too keen on skills as a director. The cinematography by Santhosh Sivan was applauded by several Indian movie legends. Ilayaraja proved once more that he is a maestro in his area as the songs were simply superb. Then there comes the actors. One of the finest actor that India has ever produced , the great Mohanlal . He led the main character with his impeccable acting skills which supported by esteemed presence of Prabhu Ganeshan . This movie features other acting gems of India as Amrish Puri,Tabu,Nedumudi Venu,Kochin Haneefa,Shankaradi,Delhi Ganesan,Sreenivasan,Annu Kapoor,etc.

Overall, my fellow movie lovers, You're not going to regret about the movie if you spend 3 hours for it. Its my word,believe it!