Memories (2013 film) explained

Memories
Director:Jeethu Joseph
Producer:P K Muralidharan
Santha Murali
Starring:Prithviraj Sukumaran
Meghana Raj
Miya George
S. P. Sreekumar
Music:Sejo John
Anil Johnson (background score)
Cinematography:Sujith Vaassudev
Editing:Johnkutty
Studio:Anantha Visions
Distributor:Murali Films & Tricolor Entertainments
Country:India
Language:Malayalam
Runtime:143 minutes

Memories is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language neo-noir crime-thriller film written and directed by Jeethu Joseph. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Meghana Raj, Miya George, S. P. Sreekumar, Vijayaraghavan, Suresh Krishna, Rahul Madhav and Vanitha Krishnachandran. The film was co-produced by P. K. Muralidharan and Santha Murali under the banner of Anantha Visions.[1] The film revolves around a drunkard police officer Sam Alex, who is forced into investigating a series of murders.

Memories was released on 9 August 2013 to positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success.

The film has earned cult status and is regarded as one of the finest and most entertaining crime thrillers in Malayalam cinema. It was remade in Tamil as Aarathu Sinam. The climax is adapted from the Hollywood film Kiss the Girls (1997)

Plot

Sam Alex is a SP of Kerala Police, who is heavily dependent on alcohol to ease the loss of his family. Sam was a peaceful family guy, leading a good life with his family. His beloved wife, Teena, and daughter were murdered by his enemy right in front of his eyes. He kills him and as a result, turns into an alcoholic. Sam's superior officer, Aravindhaksha Menon, requests him to proceed with a parallel investigation in a case involving the disappearance and possible kidnapping of several young married men, since the present police team is not able to make any progress in the case.

Sam refuses to do this. Later, his mother, Marykutty, requests him to take up the investigation. Sam soon gets into the case files and consults the post-mortem documents and the doctors who conducted it. Soon, Sam is seen making a breakthrough in the case. Another two kidnappings happen, and all this leads to Sam's rough conclusion of the killer. The killer is an eccentric person, who has a limp and a short right leg, and either hates or loves women. The killer leaves certain clues inscribed by a sharp surgical knife on the chest of the victims.

This serves Sam's thinking of what kind of person the killer is and who is his next target. Upon careful examination of the words inscribed in the body of the victims, Sam uncovers that the words are actually Aramaic, the language Jesus used for communication. The words are later found to point to biblical proverbs, thus helping Sam lead to the conclusion that the killer is insane and assumes the victims gave up their lives for the sins committed by their respective wives. He calls the wives for an inquiry and tells them that they had a link with a guy named Anand, who studied with them a certain years back, but there was no evidence of such a person. Sam concludes that Anand changed his identity and is living under a new name, Peter, and identity.

Sam realizes that there is a final target that Anand will not miss and will disappear after that. He eventually finds out that the target is his brother, Sanju, and his wife, Anitha, is the last link in the connection. Sam finds out with the help of his colleague and other evidence that Anand has a property near Kottayam. He goes there to save Sanju. After killing Anand, Sam gives up drinking, and he finally moves on and adopts Anand's sister Parvathi's daughter.

Release

Memories was released on 9 August 2013.

The film had been remade into Tamil as Aarathu Sinam with Arulnithi in lead.

Reception

Sify.com rated the film as "Good", stating that "Memories is an engaging film that has been well made."[2] Gayathry of Oneindia.in says that "Memories is undoubtedly an entertaining investigation movie."[3] Aswin of The Times of India says that "Memories is an engaging watch, courtesy a good plot and a cast that does justice to the plot."[4] Indiaglitz.com says that "Memories is a thriller which may find space among the list of well crafted suspense thrillers in Mollywood.[5] Nowrunning.com rated the film as "Above Average", stating that "Memories is a decent entertainer and stunning thriller in which plot twists abound, and the ambiance is laced with intrigue."[6]

Music

The music for the film was composed by Sejo John and the background score by Anil Johnson.

Memories
Type:Soundtrack
Artist:Sejo John
Caption:Original CD cover
Recorded:2013
Genre:Film soundtrack
Language:Malayalam
Producer:P K Muralidharan
Santha Murali
Prev Title:Housefull
Prev Year:2013
Next Title:6B Paradise
Next Year:2013

Accolades

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20130406063341/http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/article/92466.html Memories - Malayalam Movie
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20130813085438/http://www.sify.com/movies/memories-review-malayalam-15036043.html Memories - Review
  3. Web site: Memories - Movie Review. 9 August 2013. Filmibeat.com. 24 November 2021.
  4. News: Memories Movie Review : Critic Review of Memories by Times of India. 24 November 2021. The Times of India.
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20130806024708/http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/review/17438.html Memories - Review - Indiaglitz
  6. Web site: Memories (2013) | Memories Malayalam Movie | Movie Reviews, Showtimes. Nowrunning.com. 29 January 2013 . 24 November 2021.