7th Day Movie Review

Movie : 7th Day
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Janani Iyyer, Vinay Forrt, Praveen Prem, Anu Mohan.
Direction: Syam Dhar
Production: Shibu Suseelan

Debutant director Shyamdhar has given every ounce of his ability to push the thriller to the category in ‘Seventh day’. With three men out there – the director together with Akhil Paul and Sujith Vasudev – to come up with something extraordinary, Seventh day has all elements for a thriller in the right proportion. It takes you through a climbing tempo of interconnected events that finally culminates in the shattering climax; a movie you will enjoy ,not but with popcorn.

7th day is a crime thriller told in the course of the seven days starting from the Christmas night. Prithviraj is introduced at the very first scene of the movie prologue. Most of the movie scenes are at night. Sujith vasudev’s cinematography surely deserves praise. He has faithfully kept the enigma of the night throughout the movie. His frames cast the viewer to the plot as the viewer becomes an invisible passerby assessing everything that happens before them. Though Prithviraj plays the role of a police investigator in the movie there is not a single scene of him in the uniform. He is a suspended police officer of the crime branch. Instead throughout the movie he is seen in this salt and pepper looks with a large framed specs and a puzzling temper.

Now about the plot ,David Abraham a police investigator of the crime branch of Kerala Police, he is under suspension. On a Christmas night, while returning from a night club, his jeep hits a bike. Riding the bike are Shaan (Vinay Fort) and Vinu ramachandran (Anu Mohan). In the accident Vinu is wounded and David takes them to a nearby hospital.

Surprisingly, Vinu goes missing from the hospital and both David and shaan searched for him in the whole city. While driving David introduces himself and his designation to Shaan who suddenly becomes nervous upon hearing David’s police designation. From here starts the suspense of the movie.

The next day David comes to know that Vinu has committed suicide and decides to find out the mystery behind this puzzling situation. Though suspended, David goes on the trail of this unnatural case which has not been registered. Through Shaan David comes to know more about them – a group of five fun loving youngsters, Vinu, Shaan, Eby (Tovino Thomas), Praveen prem (Cyril) and Jessy (Janani Iyer), whose life took an ugly turn through some weird twist of fate .

What makes this movie a must watch is the lead character played by Prithviraj himself. His sharp looks with a face that betrays nothing of the story’s path, keep the audience glued to the movie. As said the movie is shot mostly at night. Thus the makers are successful in taking advantage of the night’s inherent enigma to suit the movie well. From the superb camera shots from the hill top to gripping slow motion sequences in the camera works near perfection. The roles played by the other characters are in sync with the story. Even minor roles as played by actors like Sunil Sugatha and Joy Mathew does not stand apart from the tempo of the movie, each adding to the suspense. However the occasional overblown twists are a bitter seed and could have been avoided.

In 7th day, we see Prithviraj in yet another of his finest roles. With the thick framed specs and deceptively charming looks his features keep us thinking where the story is going. Just as we try to relate him to a specific type, he slips out in another scene with a whole different projection. Prithvi’s expressions keep changing from ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’…

The story keeps escaping our grasp till the end of the movie, culminating in a gripping climax. A drawback for that matter is the inability of a number of twists in the movie to satisfy the viewers. With the first half moving in a rather slow motion, the movie a few times tests the patience of the viewer. The first half thus sets the tone for the second half in which David ties all the threads together. Deepak Dev’s BGM was fine. The songs are rather ordinary, nothing new in it. Akhil Paul’s script though a bit too long is good. It’s worth your money.

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