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New Delhi (1987 film)
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Wikipedia article
'New Delhi' is a 1987 Malayalam language neo-noir action thriller film written by Dennis Joseph and directed by Joshiy and produced by Joy Thomas. It stars Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Thiagarajan, Sumalatha, Urvashi, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan, Mohan Jose, Devan, and Jagannatha Varma.
The film was remade and released in Telugu as 'Anthima Theerpu', which was directed by Joshiy himself. Joshiy also directed the Hindi and Kannada versions titled 'New Delhi'. Lead roles were played by Jeetendra in its Hindi version and Ambareesh in the Kannada version, respectively, Gopi made his debuts in the Telugu, Kannada and Hindi film Industries through the remakes in those languages but he played different roles. The story is loosely based on the novel 'The Almighty' by Irving Wallace.
Thiagarajan, who played the role of Salem Vishnu in 'New Delhi', later produced and directed a Tamil film titled 'Salem Vishnu' which showcased the prequel story of his character. The film rose Mammootty to 'Mega Star' status after consecutive failures in 1986. The film was a critical and commercial success and the highest-grossing Malayalam film at that time. It earned 'cult status' and is considered one of the best film made ever in India.
Plot
G. Krishnamoorthy aka G.K., is a cartoonist and investigative journalist working in New Delhi, along with his sister, Uma, who is also a journalist. G.K. falls in love with a dancer named Maria Fernandes. Meanwhile, C. R. Panikkar and Shankar are two political bigwigs, who book a show with Maria on Republic Day's eve and brutally assault her in a hotel room. G.K. attempts to report the incident in the newspaper, but the effort is foiled by his chief editor, who notifies C.R. Panikkar and Shankar. After being arrested on fake charges, G.K. is brought to trial to face many false witnesses including Fernandes, her father, who claims nobody harmed his daughter.
G.K. is deemed mentally unfit and sentenced to 1 year in a mental asylum, as well as 5 years in prison. G.K. is mercilessly tortured, subjected to electric shock, and beaten up to the point where his right limbs become useless, under Shankar's orders to 'make sure this man will never write or walk properly again'. G.K. meets Ananthan, Siddiq and Appu, whom he acquainted at the jail, and were once selected to be set free from prison on Republic day, but was denied the chance by Shankar. Nataraj Vishnu is a murderer who was sentenced to death by the court. G.K., who already has a plan of vengeance, meets Vishnu and offers to help him break out of prison.
After completing the 5-year period, G.K. is free. Maria is ready with a new newspaper 'The New Delhi Diary' which she dedicates to G.K, and arranged help for Vishnu, Ananthan, Siddiq, and Appu to break out of prison. G.K. delays the issuing of his newspaper even though the newspaper had all the facilities and trained journalists, including Uma and her fiance Suresh. G.K. wants his newspaper to release only after getting sensational news, and also informs that he has appointed a reporter named Viswanath who will provide available sensational news to him. When the team breaks out of jail, they head towards the residence of former judge and newly appointed ambassador to USA, Mr. Aggarwal who had sentenced G.K. to prison, and kill him according to G.K.'s instructions.
The newspaper is released immediately and has a grand reception by the people since this sensational news. 'The New Delhi Diary' soon becomes the leading newspaper in India. Uma and Suresh have doubts about the news being published in their newspaper so early by the "unknown" reporter Viswanath. G.K. instructs the four to kill C. R. Panikkar, who is electrocuted and killed, the torturing method G.K. faced in the mental asylum. The killing is witnessed by Suresh and team notices it. G.K. instructs the team to kill Suresh, who has some evidences and photos about this. G.K., who later discoveres Uma's relationship with Suresh, tries to rescue him, but to no avail.
Siddiq is killed while Appu is captureed by the cops. The last prey of G.K.'s series of killings was Shankar, who is a Central minister. As usual, G.K. instructs Ananthan and Vishnu to kill Shankar, and publishes a news about Minister Shankar's murder, but the team could not cross the tight security to kill him. They were both killed in an encounter with police. G.K., who was all set to release his next day's newspaper, is arrested by the police for conspiring to attack Shankar. Shankar comes to the office of G.K. to harass him. Soon, Maria shoots Shankar with the pistol as vengeance. The cops try to lock her, but she kills him anyway. Thus, Maria and G.K. are arrested by the cops.
Cast
Production
The film was shot in New Delhi.
Remake
The movie was remade into three different languages such as Telugu, Hindi & Kannada by Joshiy himself.
Release
The film released on 24 July 1987.
Critical reception
In a retrospect review of the film critic Fahir writes: "'New Delhi' is a Malayalam film released 34 years back and that fact still amazes me. The production quality where the movie is shot in different locations on a big canvas is breathtaking. The film consists of such a big cast with terrific performances from each and every actor. Joshiys making and Shyams music all adds to factors on how 'New Delhi' looks like a movie that has not aged after so many years. But at the heart of it is arguably the finest screenplay written for a Malayalam Action movie." 'The Hindu' writes: "The 1987 thriller directed by Joshiy is one of the most significant films in Mammoottys career. The unofficial adaptation of Irving Wallaces novel 'Almighty' came at a time when his career was going through probably its worst phase. He wowed the audience in the role of journalist G.K."Box office
The film was a commercial success at the box office. 'New Delhi' became the highest-grossing Malayalam film at that time. 'New Delhi' making a box office collection of 2.5 crore in Kerala box office. The film ran for over a hundred days in Ernakulam center. and also was the first Malayalam film to ran over 100 days in 2 centers in Tamil Nadu box office.References
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