Bangalore Days

Bangalore Days
Film poster
Directed by	Anjali Menon
Produced by	Anwar Rasheed Sophia Paul
Written by	Anjali Menon
Starring	Dulquer Salmaan Nivin Pauly Nazriya Nazim Fahadh Faasil Isha Talwar Parvathy Menon Nithya Menen
Narrated by	Nivin Pauly
Music by	Gopi Sunder
Cinematography	Sameer Thahir
Edited by	Praveen Prabhakar
Production company	Anwar Rasheed Entertainment Weekend Blockbusters
Distributed by	A & A Release Through August Cinema & Tricolor Entertainments
Release dates	May 30, 2014 (2014-05-30) (Kerala)
Running time	172 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	9 crore (US$1.4 million)[1]
Box office	50 crore (US$7.9 million)[1]

Bangalore Days is an Indian Malayalam romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Anjali Menon, and produced by Anwar Rasheed and Sophia Paul under the banner Anwar Rasheed Entertainment and Weekend Blockbusters.^[2] The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Dulquer Salmaan, Nivin Pauly, Nazriya Nazim, Fahadh Faasil, Isha Talwar, Parvathy Menon and Nithya Menen in pivotal roles.^[2][3]

The story is about three cousins from Kerala who move to Bangalore,^[4] continuing Menon's trend of filming movies about family relationships.^[5] The film received positive reviews from critics and collected 8.5 crore (US$1.3 million) in its first week. Its gross collection was about 50 crore (US$7.9 million), making it the highest grossing film of the year and one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of all time. The remake rights of the film, for Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages, was jointly acquired by Dil Raju and PVP Cinemas.^[6][7]

Plot

The film's story revolves around three cousins Divya (Nazriya Nazim), Krishnan P.P., also known as Kuttan (Nivin Pauly) and Arjun (Dulquer), who share a close bond since their childhood. Kuttan is a software engineer whose heart and soul is back home in his village, while Arjun is a bike mechanic whose parents are divorced and lives his life on his own terms. Divya had completed her graduation and aspired to do her MBA from IIM but is compelled to get married to workaholic corporate executive Das (Fahadh Faasil) because of her parents' astrologer's suggestions. Divya moves to Bangalore as her husband is settled there, Kuttan does the same for his job and Arjun joins a biker gang as a mechanic in the same city.

Divya feels emotionally alone as her husband Das continues to ignore her. Her only solace is the time she gets to spend with her cousins Aju and Kuttan.

Naive Kuttan, who wanted a traditional, modest, saree-clad girl for a wife, falls in love with an air hostess called Meenakshi (Isha Talwar) on the Bangalore to Kochi flight. They date and Kuttan changes from a reserved and shy person to a trendy youth to impress her. But his dreams are shattered when her ex-boyfriend arrives at her flat and he realizes that she was only trying to get back with him. He breaks off his relationship with her.

Arjun was a bike racer but due to a foul incident, he is forced to serve a one year ban from racing. He falls for a radio jockey named Sarah (Parvathy Menon) but when he finally meets her in person, he finds that she is a paraplegic. He starts to like her attitude and starts to follow her. They became good friends but Arjun is saddened when he learns that Sarah is to leave for Australia on a University scholarship.

Arjun learns that Das was an ex bike racer named Shiva and the leader of his biker gang a few years ago. Shiva had given up on racing after he was involved in an accident that killed his love Natasha (Nithya Menon). Divya decides to return to Bangalore when she hears about Das' past, and takes up her MBA. She gradually wins Das over and arranges for him to meet Natasha's parents. After the meeting, Das is able to let go of his past. He starts to display affection for Divya and they get their marital life on track.

Arjun gets a chance to race on the same day that Sarah has to leave for Australia. Divya, Das and Kuttan cheer for him and he wins the race. After the race, Arjun realizes that Sarah is the most important part of his life and asks her not to go. Sarah forgoes her Australia scholarship to stay with him in Bangalore.

In the epilogue, Kuttan gets married to a foreigner named Michelle who has embraced the culture of Kerala. The film ends with Arjun, Sarah, Divya and Das breaking into their room and all of them posing for a photo.

Cast

Production

Filming of Bangalore Days started in December 2013.^[8] The film was produced by Anwar Rasheed and Sophia Paul. Gopi Sunder composed the music of the film, while cinematography was handled by Sameer Thahir.^[9] The movie was shot in Kochi, Bangalore at a budget of 8.5 crore (US$1.3 million).^[10] The first look trailer of the film was released online on 7 May 2014, followed by a subtitled version on 12 May.^[4]

Music

The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by Gopi Sunder. He was sued for copyright violation by Bryan Adams as the song "Nam Ooru Bengaluru" was similar to the single "Summer of '69".^[11]

Track list

Release

The film was originally scheduled to release on May 9, 2014, but was rescheduled due to delays in production.^[12] The film released on May 30, 2014 in 205 theaters, making it one of the biggest release for a Malayalam film, simultaneously all over India.^[13] At the time of release, Bangalore Days was the Malayalam film to have a subtitled release in maximum number of screens. The movie released with English subtitles, in more than 200 screens across India.^[14][15] The film released in UAE on July 3, 2014.^[16]

Bangalore Days was distributed in India by A & A Release Through August Cinema. Star Movie was the distributor in the US, Indian Movies in UK and Tricolor Entertainments in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.

Reception

Critical reception

Bangalore Days received positive reviews from critics, with praise towards the direction, performances, music and cinematography.^[16]

Veeyen of Nowrunning.com stated that "Bangalore Days is a buoyant examination of love, the basest of all human emotions and the bonds and bondages that it leaves in its wake. Pungently played out in the metro city of Bangalore, it's a stunning reminder of a spectacular marvel that unravels before us every day - a marvel called life." ^[17] The reviewer of Sify.com gave the verdict as "Good" and said, "Bangalore Days is a young, vibrant film that is colourful and peppy."^[18] Krishnanunni U. of Oneindia.in rated the film 4 in a scale of 5 and described it as a "perfect youth entertainer."^[19] Aswin J Kumar of The Times of India wrote, "Bangalore Days might not be charming as a whole, still Anjali shows intent in knitting together family bonds in purely comic vein, throwing up characters like a wife and husband who just drift apart from each other out of love for independent life. This is a film that talks cheerfully about love and hope," and rated the film 3.5 in a scale of 5.^[20] Paresh C Palicha of Rediff.com wrote, "The first feature film Anjali Menon directed was Manjadikuru where children get a perplexed view of the adult world. Bangalore Days can be seen as an extension of that, where those children are grown up but still want to hold on to their childhood." He gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.^[21]

Box office

The film collected 8.5 crore (US$1.3 million) in its first week.^[22] International Business Times reported that the film collected 21.1 crore (US$3.3 million) crore by the 12th day of its release in theatres.^[15] According to the year-end box office analysis published by Hindustan Times, the film's total gross collection was about 50 crore (US$7.9 million),^[1] making it the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year and one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of all time.^[23] According to trade analyst Aravind Nambiar, "not only was Bangalore Days a profitable venture, it was also the most widely viewed Malayalam film in recent times."^[1]

References

External links

• Bangalore Days at the Internet Movie Database