Shikkar

<p>Balaraman is a former police constable for the in , who presently works as a lorry driver and finally settles down with his teenage daughter Ganga in Chittazha, a mountainous terrain in . However, Balaraman’s life takes a turn when he learns that a group of wants to finish him and Ganga in order to avenge the death of their leader Dr. Syed Abdul Rahman (Sakhavu Abdulla), a naxalite and a qualified doctor, who was killed in a by the cops. Without any choice, Balaraman decides to take drastic measures to protect Ganga by defeating the naxals. The project was initially planned as , to be directed by and written by S. Suresh Babu. However, it did not materialize at that time, and later, came on board. The film was mainly shot at locations in and in , (then part of ), and , . The climax scenes were shot in (Devil’s Kitchen), and the hills in . Filming completed in August 2010. The stunt scenes were choreographed by Thyagarajan. Mohanlal and Ananya performed their own stunts in the climax scenes in the caves. Manu Jagadh handled the art direction of the film. All lyrics are written by except where noted; all music is composed by . The film was a commercial success at the box office. released on 9 September in Kerala, and made an extraordinary opening in 110 screens. It grossed (US$650,000) in 8 days from 110 screens, which was phenomenal for a Malayalam film at that time. And took distributor share of around (US$250,000) from 8 days. It was found at the number one position at the box-office among the releases. The film made at a budget of (US$410,000), collected (US$440,000) as distributor share from first two weeks. called it an “ultimate winner”. came at second place in the third week. The film collected over (US$1.4 million) in 20 days. Shibu B. S of praised the cinematography of Manoj Pillai and Mohanlal’s performance. He commented “The story is as old as the history of revenge sagas. However, scriptwriter has done a commendable job compared with his earlier scripts like , and has tried to inject oodles of energy”. Paresh C. Palicha of rated 2/5 stars and said “Suresh Babu’s script seems to be heavily inspired by two recent, much-discussed films; ‘s and ‘s . The subject of seems borrowed from the former while the edgy-eerie feel has been taken from the latter.” and concluded as “Young Padmakumar tried to make Shikkar a mass-entertainer as well as a film with artistic merit; unfortunately, it falls somewhere in between”. He appreciated the camera works of Manoj Pillai. Veeyen of awarded 2/5 stars and said “There are no directorial flourishes visible in Padmakumar’s Shikkar that is old wine in an older bottle. As much as it remains a visual delight, the mysteries that it offers do not much thrill, and the story that it tells seldom excites”. he highly praised the cinematography saying, “The real hero of the film is none other than cinematographer Manoj Pillai, the camerawork of the film seems like an adventure in itself”. gave the verdict “very good” and said, “This film is far from being perfect especially in its first half, but it has been packaged quite well. With some superb performances, brilliant visuals, reasonably engaging script and nice music”, he gave special mention to Manoj Pillai’s camera and Ranjan Abraham’s editing and was highly enthusiastic about Mohanlal’s performance. reviewer stated “The highlight of the story by Suresh Babu is that even if you may find the story a damn regular after the show, the narrative techniques used and the finesse in keeping the suspense element till the last 30 minutes, succeeds big time”. And appreciated cinematography and Mohanlal’s performance saying, “The movie remains a visual treat with Manoj Pillai working at his helm, panning over the landscapes and lush green forests with some real adventurous shots. The other highlight naturally remains Mohanlal.</p>