| Arjunan Saakshi | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ranjith Sankar |
| Produced by | S. Sundarajan |
| Written by | Ranjith Shankar |
| Starring | Prithviraj Ann Augustine Nedumudi Venu Jagathy Sreekumar Mukesh Vijayaraghavan Biju Menon |
| Music by | Bijibal |
| Cinematography | Ajayan Vincent |
| Editing by | Ranjan Abraham |
| Studio | S.R.T. Films |
| Distributed by | S.R.T. Release |
| Release date(s) | 28 January 2011[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
Arjunan Saakshi (Malayalam: അർജുനൻ സാക്ഷി, English: Arjuna the Witness) is a 2011 Malayalam mystery thriller film written and directed by Ranjith Sankar.[2] It stars Prithviraj and Ann Augustine in the lead roles.[3] The film is a thriller which deals with how we evade our responsibility to society.[4] The film examines the vertical growth of Kochi both as a metro and a centre of crimes.[4] It is produced by S. Sundararajan under the banner of S. R. T. Films and released on 28 January 2011. The film got positive reviews from the critics but was a failure at the boxoffice.
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Roy Mathew (Prithviraj), a young architect who has spent his entire life abroad, finally arrives in Cochin with dreams of starting a life afresh. But he soon realises that the city that he gets to live in is radically different from the one that he had seen in his dreams.[2]
By coincidence his individuality is misundertood for a witness to a sensational crime involving top brass of industrialists and political class. Roy has now got to prove not just his true self but also save himself and his dear ones from the looming threat but also set things right.
Arjunan Saakshi is the second film by Ranjith Sankar, whose previous film Passenger, another thriller, was met with positive reviews for its novelty and was a box office hit.[5] Ranjith Sankar announced this project on December 2009 with Prithviraj in the lead.[6] The director says that the story of Arjunan Saakshi had been in his mind quite a while when he happened to see an article about a project for a tram network in Kochi, which didn't work out.[4] The strange title of the film find more meaning, as the film progresses, according to the director.[4] According to Prithviraj, Arjunan Saakshi is a contemporary film. He says: "It deals with how we evade our responsibility towards society. We often blame others for everything that goes wrong, but how often do we take responsibility for our actions? We are not ready to sacrifice anything but we tend to forget that we enjoy freedom because people risked their lives to attain it for us."[4]
In Arjunan Saakshi, the lead character Roy Mathew is played by Prithviraj, who started working on the film much before the completion of Santosh Sivan's Urumi and Lijo Jose Pellissery's City of God.[7] Ann Augustine, who debuted through Lal Jose's Elsamma Enna Aankutty in 2010, plays the role of an investigative journalist and a city-bred youngster Anjali Menon, who happens to get involved in certain social issues.[8] The supporting cast includes Jagathy Sreekumar, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan, Biju Menon, Suresh Krishna and Vijeesh.[4]
The film was launched on 1 November 2010 in Kochi.[9] The filming occurred at various parts of Kochi.[4] Ajayan Vincent handles the camera while Bijibal composes the music for lyrics written by Anil Panachooran.[3] The editor of the film will be Ranjan Abraham.
The film released on 28 January 2011 in 70 theatres [1][10] It got positive reviews from the critics, but was a failure at the box office.[11][12] Prithviraj rated it among his personal favorites and that Arjunan Saakshi was one film he was proud of doing.
Veeyen of Nowrunning.com gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, stating, "It is a multi-pointed critique that brings everyone around - the administration, the police force, the state, the media and the general public - under the scanner and unveils a startling story of victims and perpetrators." [13]