| D Company | |
| Director: | M. Padmakumar Diphan Vinod Vijayan |
| Producer: | K. Mohanan Vinod Vijayan |
| Starring: | Asif Ali Jayasurya Fahadh Faasil Anoop Menon Samuthirakani Ananya Nair Bhama Unni Mukundan Parvatii Nair |
| Music: | Rahul Raj Gopi Sundar Ratheesh Vegha |
| Cinematography: | Bharani K. Dharan Vinod Illampally Pappu |
| Editing: | B. Ajithkumar Samjith Mohammed Arun |
| Studio: | Seven Arts International D Cutz Film Company |
| Distributor: | Seven Arts International Release |
| Runtime: | 122 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Malayalam |
D Company is a 2013 Indian Malayalam anthology gangster drama film. It is an anthology of three independently shot films directed by M. Padmakumar, Diphan, and Vinod Vijayan. It includes a huge ensemble cast of Jayasurya, Fahadh Faasil, Anoop Menon, Unni Mukundan, Asif Ali, Samuthirakani, Ananya, Bhama, Parvathi Nair, Aadukalam Naren, Rajeev Pillai, Jinu Joseph, Joju George, Deepak Parambol and Pooja Ramachandran. The film is produced by Vinod Vijayan, Seven Arts Mohan and Faisal Latheef under the banner of D Cutz Film Company and distributed by Seven Arts International.
The film was earlier supposed to have five featurettes of directors Diphan, M Padmakumar, Vinod Vijayan, Shaji Kailas and Joshiy but was split into two films with the first part having the former three directors' ventures.[1] The second part however did not materialise. D Company released on the festival of Onam 2013. The anthology mainly received positive reviews, but was not a commercial success.[2]
| Segment Title | Director | Writer | Cinematography | Music |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oru Bolivian Diary 1995 | G.S Anil | Bharani K. Dharan | ||
| Gangs of Vadakkumnathan | Anoop Menon | Vinod Illampally | ||
| A Day of Judgement | Rajesh Ravi | |||
Oru Bolivian Diary 1995, set in a tribal habitat deep down the jungle, is about a North Indian Maoist leader Chaukidar (Samuthirakani) who comes to Wayanad to spread his doctrines among the local tribes. They assassinate policemen, and a tribal youth Chinnan (Asif Ali) tries to protect Chaukidar from police. Though Chinnan is apprehended, interrogated and eliminated, Chaukidar remains at bay, continuing to spread his influence. It is shown that Chaukidar is inspired by the book The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara written by Che Guevara. These events are narrated by police inspector Narain, to reporter Indumathi (Ananya) 15 years after the incident. It is finally revealed that Indumathi is also a supporter of Maoism, inspired by the same book which influenced Chaukidar.
Gangs of Vadakkumnathan is a gangster film tells about black money and gang wars of Thrissur town. A murder of an industrialist named Ajay Mallya (character based on Vijay Mallya) happens in Bangalore and 7.50 billion are lost. Corrupted police officer Akbar (Anoop Menon) arrives at Thrissur, at the behest of the Mallya's son Sudheer Mallya (character based on Siddharth Mallya) for investigating the murder case, with a promise of a share in the recovered money. Akbar's team suspect the deadly Gangs of Vadakkumnathan and a jeweller to be involved. Akbar finds the money and eliminates the gangs and the jeweller tactfully, and returns with only part of the money, the rest of which his team keeps. Finally, it is secretly revealed that Akbar was the one who murdered Mallya and planned the entire setup, which is only now known by Akbar and his one accomplice.[3]
The Day of Judgement is about the agony suffered by a doctor – Sunil Mathew (Fahadh Faasil) after his wife's death.
Dr.Sunil's mentally unstable wife Jeena (Bhama) has fallen from the balcony to her death. Police suspect Sunil, but they inform him that "another" dead body has been found from his villa, and they bring him in early morning for questioning about that "dead body". But no questioning happens all day at the station, and instead police keep telling him that the body was that of one of his nurses, Maya, and all evidence of the murder points to him, including his friend Vishnu's testimony. Sunil escapes from the police station and decides to confront Vishnu to prove his innocence. On the way, he realizes that no murder really occurred; police have laid a trap for him along with Vishnu to make him confess to Jeena's murder (which Sunil has in fact committed by actually pushing her down from the balcony as he could not tolerate her mental illness), and they are probably waiting for him at Vishnu's house to try to record him admitting his guilt as evidence and trap him. Sunil instead goes to the bus stand and escapes.[4]
D Company is touted as Indian cinema's first action anthology.[5] Scenarists Ranjith and A. K. Sajan were also approached for writing two of the films but they rejected. Anoop Menon, who scripted Gangs of Vadakkumnathan, was also initially reluctant to do the project. In an interview, he said, "I have been approached to write a part of D Company. But, right now, my hands are full and I haven't got time to sit and think about it."[6] Parvathy Nair was chosen to play the wife of the character played by Jayasurya. She had earlier been in news for rejecting an important role in the Jayasurya-starrer film Beautiful.[7]
Shaji Kailas's featurette Godse is based on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The director says, "The movie is about the conflict of emotions and explores the turmoil that Godse goes through the night before he kills Mahatma Gandhi. It's basically the fight between the good and the evil. There is an intense struggle that Godse goes through before committing the crime. Finally, he does it, justifying it as God's wish." The film has only a few characters and will be made as a soliloquy of Nathuram Godse, as he weighs the pros and cons of his deed. The film is inspired by the controversial book Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. According to the director, the film evolved from the final pages of the book, which describes what Godse went through before assassinating Gandhi. Godse will start filming as soon as Kailas finishes his project Madirasi.[8] [9]
Veteran director Joshiy, who directed the film starring Mohanlal, first approached Kerala-borne Tamil actress Trisha to play the female lead. However, she opted out citing her busy schedules. However, some reports say that she demanded 40 lakhs, a large sum for a Malayalam film, and the director himself replaced her.[10]
Initially, each segments were planned to be named after colours such as Red, Blue, Green etc. but however this idea was later dropped.[6]
The stunt sequences are done by Mafia Sasi, Thyagarajan, Anal Arasu and Kanal Kannan.
Oru Bolivian Diary 1995, the first short in the series, started its filming in May 2012 in Hyderabad.[11] Its second schedule of filming started on 7 June and the film was shot extensively in Muthanga near Sultan Battery.[6] [12] Major parts were shot in about 10 days.[13] [14] Several locals from Wayanad district and about 20 police officers from the state police force were also part of the film.[15] About the film, M. Padmakumar says, "It's an action film in the sense that an element of suspense is retained throughout and the film is essentially a thriller. It doesn't mean that the film is full of firearm fights and stunt sequences."[5]
Gangs of Vadakkumnathan is the second film in the series. The segment began filming on 20 August 2012 and was shot from Thrissur, Bangalore and Mangalore.[16]
The third segment was titled Diya. Fahadh Faasil plays a doctor in the film. The shoot for Diya will start on 20 May.[17] In June 2013, Bhama stated that she starred in the segment directed by Vinod Vijayan, where she is paired with Fahadh Faasil.[18] Tanushree Ghosh said that she will portray the role of a trainee Assistant Commissioner of Police in Vinod Vijayan's featurette.[19] Praveen B Menon was the production controller of this film.