August1

August1 is based on an English movie “Day of the Jackal” well scripted by S N Swamy and directed by Sibi Malayil. Movie released in 1988, one of the peak years of mammootty giving many super hits.

Story is about a Crime Branch Detective fights the clock to prevent a looming assassination attempt on the Kerala Chief Minister's life. An upright Chief Minister M.K.R. (Sukumaran) takes power in Kerala after a keenly fought election. Disgruntled opponents hire a professional hit man (Captain Raju) to take him out within 15 days (the 15th day being Aug 15, independence day). A tip-off brings a Crime Branch officer Perumal (Mammootty) into the case, who finds the assassin to be a cunning and determined man, psychotically dedicated to ensure full value to his customers in spite of the word of the looming assassination getting out. August1 was fairly well paced and tightly scripted with exception of a few terribly awkward scenes and one of the best scripts of S N Swamy.

Mammootty was acting in 1921 on those days and he has made a stunning hair cut. He used the same hair style for this movie. He was perfectly fit to do such a role and prove that he is only fit to do police roles in Malayalam cinema than other stars. Gayathri’s poster caption was famous “One wants to kill him, the other wants to save him”. Shyams’ music was terrific and it was a big hit. Movie ran more than 100 days in major centers. In Trivandrum (Dhanya, Remya) movie collected well and ran more than 100 days.