Grandmaster is a 2012 Indian neo-noir thriller film written and directed by B. Unnikrishnan, produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur. The film stars Mohanlal in the lead role while Narain, Priyamani, Anoop Menon, Babu Antony and Jagathy Sreekumar play major supporting roles. The movie is loosely based on Agatha Christie's novel The A.B.C. Murders. The title refers to the theme of chess permeates the storyline.
The film, produced by UTV Motion Pictures, released on 3 May 2012 and received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The film released through Netflix online video streaming by UTV in the U.S. and Canada. This is the first among new Malayalam films available for internet video streaming in the U.S. and Canada through Netflix.
MalluDeals.com gave Grand Master the ranking of No 5 among the Top 10 Malayalam Movies of 2012.
Synopsis[]
A policeman, Chandrasekhar, receives a series of letters challenging him to solve a series of murders of victims whose names are in alphabetical order. What is the connection between the victims and why does the killer seem to want Chandrasekhar to be directly involved?
Comparison with original novel[]
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)
- The main premise of the original novel is retained: there is a series of murder victims whose names and location of death are in alphabetical order. Each killing is preceded by a letter giving warning of the date and place. However in this case, the letters are signed off as coming from "Z".
- At the scene of each killing is placed an "ABC" book, although in this case, it is a book which teaches the writing of the alphabet and not a railway guide.
- Beyond this, the backstories of the characters are changed and so there are few parallel characters. Chandrasekhar is the parallel of Poirot and Victor Rosetti the parallel of Cust. There are some similarities in the backgrounds of the murder victims.
- The first victim's name is also "Alice" and like Alice Ascher, is a small business owner.
- The second victim is "Beena" and likely Betty Barnard, is flirtatious. She is killed while out on a date with the killer just like in the original.
- The third victim is "Chandrika", and also wealthy, just like Sir Carmichael in the original.
- Like in the original, the third letter comes too late, although this was not due to a wrong address. It was simply posted late. Like Poirot, Chandrasekhar surmises that this is because "C" was the most important person for the killer.
- Like the character of Cust, there is also a mentally disturbed person, Victor Rosetti, who is set up as a red herring. Rosetti is employed by a (fake) direct sales company. He is given lists and visits the locations of the murders just before the killings take place. Victor is also manipulated into thinking that he had committed the killings.
- Although the police identify the salesman quickly, Chandrasekhar, like Poirot realises that he cannot have committed the murders. To them, the killings were not done like the actions of a deranged man but the result of a carefully prepared plan made to seem like they were the actions of a deranged man.
- Unlike the original, the A and B are not random murders to disguise the true target. The murdered victims are all connected, although this is not apparent until late in the show.
- The motive in this case is not money or inheritance but revenge. The connection between the victims in that they had been business partners in a shady venture in the past which led to the death of someone. The brother wants revenge. The fact that their names run in alphabetical sequence is a coincidence.
- The "D" letter comes in the form of an email.
- Like Poirot, Chandrasekhar adopts a highly psychological approach to solving the crime. Unlike Poirot, however, he has a direct interest in the case because it relates to a failed case of his many years in the past and also because "D" on the list of intended victims is his ex-wife.
Plot summary[]
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)
Chandrasekhar (Mohanlal) was once a highly efficient and successful police officer in the Kerala police but lost interest in his job and left the service after his wife divorced him and took his daughter away. Some nine years later, his superior in the police force calls him back to head the newly formed Metro Crime Stopper Cell in the city of Kochi. At first, Chandrasekhar is withdrawn and half-hearted in his work, preoccupied with household chores and spending his time on his hobby of chess. His superior grows impatient and wants to see results.
Things seem to change when three college girls are abducted by a psychologically deviant man named Jerome. By making logical deductions from the statements of witnesses, Chandrasekhar quickly solves the crime. He singlehandedly rescues the three girls and arrests Jerome. But his enthusiasm for his job is short-lived. He is upset when his ex-wife Deepthi, a successful criminal lawyer, and her friend a psychiatrist Dr Jacob Varghese successfully argue that Jerome should be treated as a psychiatric case because the three girls have been mocking him and had provoked him into the abductions. Jerome is assigned to a psychiatric facility instead of being tried.
Chandrasekhar gets a congratulatory note from an anonymous man calling himself "Z", who challenges Chandrasekhar to figure out how he is going to bump off one target after the other. Chandrasekhar is forced to take up the investigation of a string of murders of three women, a coffee shop owner named Alice (Fathima Babu), a famous singer Beena Thomson (Roma Asrani) and leading businesswoman Chandrika Narayanan (Seetha). These crimes seem to run in alpabetical sequence, and a cut in the shape of a cross has been made on each of the women's foreheads.
The connections between the three murders gradually become apparent. First, Chandrasekhar spots a brief scene in a video found on Beena's phone which shows a coffee mug from Alice's cafe. Then, with the "C" murder, he is certain he is on the right track. As Chandrasekhar tells his boss, he thinks the present killings relate to a case he investigated 10 years ago. A weathy man named Paul Mathew had died after drinking a poison, apparently a suicide. However Chandresekhar was convinced it was murder and that Chandrika was the culprit. Paul had been having an affair with her and he had given her money and they had even talked about getting married. Chandrika was with Paul just 20 minutes before his death. However Chandrasekhar had discuss this case with his wife Deepthi, at that time a youg aspiring lawyer. Unbeknownst to to Chandresekhar, Deepthi was Chandrika's lawyer. She primed Chandrika with what her husband had told her. As a result, Chandrika was ready with her alibis when questioned by the police and she evaded arrest. When Chandrasekhar found out that his wife had betrayed him for the sake of her professional ambitions, the relationship between them became strained and they divorced. Throughout, the ABC killers seemed to want Chandrasekhar personally involved and now he begins to understand why: his ex-wife is Deepthi or "D". Of all the letters, that for the "C" arrived late, probably because the killer considered this the most important victim and he absolutely must get this one. The "C" victim was probably the centre of a nexus.
Chandrasekhar confronts Deepthi who, as Chandrika's lawyer, is familiar with her background. Alice once owned a small cloth-shop in Fort Kochi and was went into partnership with Chandrika on a sex racket. They recruited Beena, at that time, a minor of 16 years of age. They knew Chadrika's lover Paul Mathew had a weakness for women and set him up with Beena. Then Chandrika sought to blackmail Paul. Paul however did not yield. He broke off his relationship with Chandrika and also demanded that she repay the money he had loaned her. Chandrika felt she had no choice but to poison him. Deepthi also knows that as "D", she might well be next.
Chandrasekhar believes that the killer might be a friend or relative of Paul Mathew seeking revenge. Suspicion first falls on a travelling salesman Victor Rosetti (Babu Antony) who, according to witnesses, was seen in all three murder locatons. By questioning witnesses, Victor is identified--he works for a company called "Mirage", later found to be fake. As the name suggests, Chandrasekhar surmises that this is all a smokescreen. Meanwhile We see Victor in a church confessing to the killings to a priest. The priest tells him he has one more killing to perform, and that the victim is a sinner and deserving of punishment.
Chandrasekhar attends his daughter's play along with Deepthi at her school. Duriong the performance, he spots Victor and gives chase. He catches up with Victor. Victor is agitated but Chandrasekhar wants to talk and says he can help him. Victor confesses to killing all three women. He has been seeing a priest, "Father Anthony". Anthony told him where to go to sell his products. Later Anthony also told him that he had killer the women--only, Victor cannot remember how, or why. Before he can say much more, Victor commits suicide by jumping off the balcony of the school building.
Chandrasekhar next confronts Dr Jacob Varghese. According to records, Victor was a schizophrenic with a fixation on religion. Could a priest, perhaps a fake one, order him to commit killings? Varghese confirms that it could happen. Chandrasekhar now says that both the various victims had calls from a prepaid cellphone from Bangalore. Victor was in a mental home run by Dr Varghese in Bangalore some time ago but had escaped. Chandrasekar accuses Varghese of being the one who controlled Victor into killing the women. Varghese is arrested and the police take him away.
Meanwhile, Deepthi cannot find her daughter at the end of the performance and goes back into the now empty school building to look for her. She is attacked by someone who tries to strangle her with a red scarf. But Chandrasekhar is there and intervenes. He gives chase and finally corners the attacker on stage. The attacker turns out to be Mark Roshen, the theatre talent who has been conducting theatrical workshops for those in mental homes and for students like Chandrasekhar and Deepthi's daughter. Chandrasekhar tells him that he knows from checking his old passport that he is Roshen Mathew, Paul Mathew's brother. To catch him, Chandrasekhar has executed a Queen's Gambit. He had Varghese arrest so that Roshen would think the police were on the wrong track. This emboldened him to make his move to attack Deepthi. Roshen confesses that he has held a grudge against the women for his brother's death. He then reveals his ultimate plan: first, he chatted up Beena, and chose Alice Coffee Pub as their meeting place. Then, he kills Alice on February 10 by strangling her to death. On February 23, after Beena was off work, they went for a drive together. He gave her a red scarf as a token of love and used it to strangle her. Then came March 1, and it was Chandrika's turn, and he strangled her to death with the same red scarf. Mark also confessed that, under the guise of "Father Anthony", he manipulated Victor into believing that he did the murders himself in order to cover his tracks. He also planned for Victor to commit the final murder on Deepthi during the play, but knowing that Victor would be caught. As for why he wanted Chandrasekhar personally involved, it was for a challenge because he always wanted to pit himself against a good adversary. In a last-minute attempt to avenge his brother, Mark leaps from the stage at Deepthi, brandishing a dagger but Chandrasekhar whips out his gun and shoots him dead, thus saving Deepthi's life. The film ends with Chandrasekhar and Deepthi, along with their daughter, finally reconciled and together again in their house.
Cast[]
- Mohanlal as Chandrasekhar
- Priyamani as Deepthi
- Anoop Menon as Dr Jacob Varghese
- Narain as Kishore
- Jagathy Sreekumar as Rashid
- Babu Antony as Victor Rosetti
- Arjun Nandakumar as Mark Roshan
- Roma Asrani as Beena Thomson
- Siddique as Paul Mathew
- Devan Sreenivasan as the ADGP [Additional Director General of Police, Kerala]
- Seetha as Chandrika Narayanan
- Sreelekshmi V as Dakshayini Chandrasekhar
- Riyaz Khan as Jerome Jacob
- Mithra Kurian as Bindya Mathew
- Fathima Babu as Alice
- Rajashree as Susan
- Manikuttan as Aby Kuriakose
- Ambika Mohan as Radhika, Chandrasekhar's mother
- Gayathri as Alice, Jerome's mother
- Santosh Sleeba as Sub-inspector Sandeep Menon
Production[]
It was reported by the producer that its theme is very fresh and racy with lots of variety situations. Grandmaster is the first production venture of Bollywood production company UTV Motion Pictures in Malayalam. Priyamani, who has some acclaimed Malayalam films under her belt, was chosen to play the female lead after she expressed her desire to feature in a film alongside Mohanlal. "This is an important role, but, from the looks of it, will not pair her romantically opposite him. Yet, she will be seen in many scenes opposite Mohanlal. This is going to be a role that requires someone who can set the screen on fire. So, the makers felt that she would be a good bet, considering her previous releases in Mollywood," says a source.
Shooting of the film started from December 2011 and was carried out primarily at two locations: Kochi and Ottapalam.
The story of the film draws inspiration from Agatha Christie's detective novel The A.B.C. Murders. The characterisation of Chandrasekhar, the film's lead character, is also inspired by Hercule Poirot, the protagonist of the novel as well as the Swedish detective, Wallander.
Release[]
Grandmaster was expected to be released on 27 April 2012, but subsequently was postponed due to non-availability of theatres. The movie was released on 3 May 2012. Boxofficeverdicts commented that Grandmaster may have lost the buzz around it during past couple of weeks, but shall prove to be a profitable venture for its distributors, with a bit of help from the whopping satellite rights amount which it managed to fetch. As per reports, it can now be confirmed that Surya TV has gained the rights for as much as 3.25 crore, however, in the initial stages it was widely believed that the price would be much less. The film earned 8 crore in its 60 day theatrical run.
Critical reception[]
Rediff.com rated the film 3.5 out of 5. Sify's critic rated the movie as "watchable" (3.5/5) and said "Grandmaster easily turns out to be an engaging watch".
Box office[]
As an investigative thriller, Grandmaster has managed to do well at the boxoffice. It made a profitable openingn considering its genre, and the absence of pre-release hype, unlike some of Mohanlal's previous ventures. As the word of mouth spread, the movie did manage to face off the challenge posed by Mallu Singh and later by Diamond Necklace. Though not an outright success, the movie did make more than industry average profits. The movie had a total gross of ₹7 crores and declared as hit.
Awards[]
- Kerala State Film Award
- Best Male Singer - Vijay Yesudas
- Asiavision Movie Awards 2012
- Best Actor - Mohanlal