Honey Bee (film)

Honey Bee is a 2013 Indian Malayalam comedy thriller film, written and directed by Lal Jr,son of actor-director Lal.^[2] The film features Asif Ali, Bhavana, Baburaj, Sreenath Bhasi, Archana Kavi, Balu Varghese and Lal in the lead roles.^[3]

The story revolves around two friends Sebastian and Angel who suddenly discover their love for each other.They elope on the eve of the girl's marriage, much to the chagrin of her brothers.The film essays the lovers' struggle for survival.^[4][5]

It was released on 6 June 2013 and was a commercial success at the box-office.^[6]

Plot

Sebastian (a.k.a. Seban) (Asif Ali), Abu (Sreenath Bhasi), Ambrose Perera (Balu Varghese), Fernandez de Silva (a.k.a. Ferno) (Baburaj), Angel (Bhavana) and Sara (Archana Kavi) are close friends in Fort Kochi. Angel's brothers HC Michael (Lal), Martin (Amith Chackalakal), Father Collin (Suresh Krishna), and Antony (Assim Jamal), nicknamed "Punyalanmar", are dangerous businessmen. Angel's family brings in a proposal for her from the city SI George.

On the night before her marriage, a drunk Sebastian (Seban) breaks into Angel's house with his friends and proposes his love to her. He elopes with her that night with his friends' help. Ambrose, drunk and senseless writes a letter and leaves it in Angel's room to inform the Punyalanmar, that they helped Seban and Angel to elope. The next day Sebastian wakes up to see Angel with him. He is shocked to see her since he doesn't remember the previous night's events. Punyalanmar go in search of them, and they are on the run. Punyalanmar destroys Sebastian's house and burns Ferno's house.

Seban and Angel decide to escape through the harbor. Abu, Ambrose and Ferno planned to confront and surrender to buy Seban and Angel time to escape. Punyalanmar captures Abu but Ferno and Ambrose threaten to kill their wives. Ferno calls Seban (who is on a boat) and says they are going to sacrifice themselves, and Ferno is stabbed by Michael's goon. Seeing Angels brothers coming after them they decide to suicide. Seban and angel kiss each other passionately. then it is revealed in the flashback that her brothers did not kill Seban's friends and that they were also there with her brothers in the boat they were coming after. But without knowing this Seban and Angel jump into the sea after kissing each other. Seban's friends jump into the sea to save them. The film has a happy ending in which all are praying together at Punyalanmar's father's tomb. and then heading for Seban's and Angels wedding.

Cast

• Asif Ali as Sebastian aka Seban
• Bhavana as Angel
• Baburaj as Fernandez de Silva aka Ferno
• Sreenath Bhasi as Abu
• Balu Varghese as Ambrose Perera aka Ambru
• Archana Kavi as Sara Perera
• Lal as HC Mikhael
• Suresh Krishna as Father Cochin/Collin s
• Assim Jamal as Antony
• Amith Chackalakal as Martin
• Vijay Babu as SI George
• Mythili Cameo
• Praveena as Lisa
• Joy Mathew as Cleetus
• Ponnamma Babu as ferno's mother
• Reena Basheer as Abu's mother

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 3 songs, all composed by Deepak Dev. Lyrics by Kaithapram, Lal, Anu Elizabeth Jose.^[7]

Release

The filming was started on March 2013 and released on 7 June 2013 in 75 screens across Kerala.^[8]

Critical reception

The movie gained mixed to positive reviews from critics.^[9][10][11] Oneindia.in said, "Jean Paul Lal has chosen a good script, which is interesting. The director has tried to keep you engaged and glued to screen throughout the movie. The suspense in the climax is also very interesting and sure to impress youth."^[12] Veeyen of Nowrunning.com rated the film 2.5/5 and said, "Honey Bee is a film to be savored like those quickie bites that you grab from a fast food restaurant. Its damn fun while it lasts in your mouth and you swallow it without much of a thought, knowing all the while that it never had plans to offer you something to chew on."^[13]

Sequel

The crew had announced the sequel of Honey Bee immediately after the release of the movie.Later Lal Jr. teamed up with Asif Ali for the psycho-thriller Hi I'm Tony, which had Lal in the title role. Due to some reasons the sequel was delayed for two years. Later, the director announced that apart from the original cast, Sreenivasan and Lena would also be seen essaying vital roles in the film.^[14] The sequel is planned to release on 11 February 2017.^[15]

References