Gautham Karthik in August 16, 1947.(courtesy: gauthamramkarthik)

Cast: Gautham Karthik, Pugazh, Richard Ashton

Director: N.S. Ponkumar

Rating: One star (out of 5)

Torture, bodily and psychological, assumes diversified kinds in August 16, 1947 – each inside the movie’s anything-goes fictional universe and on the viewers within the theatre. The Tamil interval drama written and directed by debutant N.S. Ponkumar and likewise launched in Hindi, is a screechy and gratuitously gory motion drama set in a distant village in Madras Presidency the place information of India’s freedom at midnight takes a whole day to achieve. Hence the title. That is the closest that the pulpy movie will get to something that appears, feels or sounds logical.

The hamlet through which August 16, 1947, performs out is within the vice-like, enervating grip of a ruthless British basic who topics the native cotton farmers to essentially the most unspeakable of horrors whereas his debauched son makes a seize for any pubescent lady who strays into his sight view.

August 16, 1947 marks A.R. Murugadoss’s return to manufacturing. The final movie that he produced was in collaboration Fox Star Studios — Rangoon (2017), directed by an erstwhile assistant. Ponkumar, too, is a former assistant to Murugadoss. Rangoon was the primary hit of Gautham Karthik’s profession.

Should the star expect comparable outcomes from August 16, 1947? The movie doesn’t possess the pomp and pageantry of an RRR nor in all probability the Telugu blockbuster’s jingoistic fervour, which is not essentially a downside. But the dearth of creativeness and management definitely is. The hackneyed therapy of a done-to-death anti-colonial style yields a movie that revels in brain-addling extra.

Does any of it make any sense? Nope. Nobody on this movie talks like a traditional human being, be it the tyrant, his native collaborators or his hapless, unvoiced victims. The officer growls, his flunkeys squeal and yell, and his topics whine interminably.

The horrid strategies of torture that Robert (Richard Ashton) makes use of to beat the villagers into submission are each lethal and various. The subservient women and men of Singaad are whipped, impaled, shot, scalded or mercilessly pummelled. The nature and severity of the punishment they obtain has completely nothing to with the seriousness of the ‘offence’. It is Robert who decides the destiny of his victims relying upon how foul his temper is at a given second.

The British officer’s males wield spiky, flesh-tearing whips that open up wounds and draw blood with each lash. They want the slightest provocation to go berserk. One man has his fingers chopped off as a result of his nails unintentionally harm Robert’s son, Justin (Jason Shah). If that weren’t sufficient, within the coronary heart of the village is a cauldron of perpetually boiling oil meant for staff who dare to ask for meals or water or search permission for a break to alleviate themselves. And someplace close to pot that’s at all times on the boil are sharply pointed poles from which the incalcitrant are hung and left bleed to loss of life in full public view.

Death and concern loom massive in different kinds over the cowering village. Parents costume their daughters as boys as a way to escape Justin’s leering eye. The ploy not often works. The disguise is just too skinny. Sniffing out his prey comes straightforward to the predator.

Worse, they bury the women alive in order that they don’t fall into Justin fingers. Death earlier than dishonour is the philosophy. Hard to digest, proper? But that is 1947 and this can be a village that lives in perpetual concern. The movie, on its half, is caught up to now by way of fashion, substance and spirit. The torture that it heaps on the viewers, mercifully solely vicariously, is tough to face up to.

The motion spans throughout 5 days – from August 12 to 16 – however in attempting to squeeze each ounce of melodrama out of the 120 out there hours and stretch the restricted time frame to really feel like 120 years, the movie wears itself skinny. But even after it’s frayed fully, it doesn’t surrender. It goes out kicking, shouting and spilling buckets of blood.

Among the villagers lives a younger wastrel Param (Gautham Karthik), who has no illusions about his will energy. He solely is aware of that he loves Deepali (Revathy Sharma), the zamindar’s daughter. Her household has informed the village that she died of cholera a decade in the past. To sustain the pretence, Deepali’s father and her brother observe her loss of life anniversary yearly.

The lady lives in captivity in her own residence, craving for freedom just about like the remainder of the village does. Param is conscious of her existence. Her father, who goals of gaining management of your entire village when the British go away India, unquestioningly submits to the whims and fancies of Robert and Justin.

When Deepali’s secret is in peril of being of being uncovered, she is hidden in a picket chest. Somewhat later she seeks refuge in a cabinet, signifying the standing of ladies in Singaad. Param, not a traditional hero spoiling for a struggle, springs to Deepali’s defence not out of any bigger sense of duty in direction of the village and its residents. All that the man is excited about is defending his beloved.

In reality, Param has at all times had an issue with the villagers as a result of they betrayed his mom to a different rapacious British officer a few years in the past. The solely individual he trusts is his pal (Pugazh), who’s by his facet by means of thick and skinny till he falls foul of Robert.

The winding plot, other than being exhausting and repetitious, is riddled with parts that fly within the face of historicity. It is one factor to rustle up a fictional village that lies deep inside a forest and much past a mountain and fairly one other to play quick and unfastened with information for the aim of setting the stage for a struggle for liberation by a long-suppressed populace that has nothing to lose anymore.

That is not the one drawback with August 16, 1947. It appears to have been written in haste and staged with out a lot thought. The storyline is a maze, the characters are riddled with contradictions and the final tone of the drama is past shrill. The dangerous guys are very, very dangerous. The exploited individuals are very, very exploited. When violence is unleashed, it’s excessive. Tongues are lower, limbs are severed, and faces are smashed. Life goes on.

The oppressed villagers are determined to flee the clutches of Robert and his son however haven’t any clue the right way to shed their trepidation and solid the primary stone at their tormentors. Mercifully, we within the viewers, simply as determined to achieve freedom from a scrappy movie, know the place the exit is. But why go that far to check how avoidable August 16, 1947 is?