August 16 1947 Movie Review: Gautham Karthik’s film is a flavourless period drama – India Today

Director NS Ponkumar’s August 16, 1947, starring Gautham Karthik, Revathy Sharma and Richard Ashton, has an intriguing plot. However, the execution falters large time, says our evaluation.

Gautham Karthik’s August 16, 1947, graced the screens on April 7.

By Janani Ok: India’s independence is one matter that has been an intriguing concept to discover in movies. In Tamil cinema, movies like Indian, Madrasapattinam and several other different films get pleasure from a particular place within the hearts of individuals. AR Murugadoss’ manufacturing enterprise, August 16, 1947, was minimize from the identical material. The fictional story is a couple of secluded village known as Sengadu, the place folks have no idea that they’ve attained independence.
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Paraman (Gautham Karthik) is a petty thief and an orphan in Sengadu. The village is headed by Robert (Richard Ashton) and his son, Justin (Jason Shah). Whereas Robert tortures the villagers bodily, Justin yanks away the younger girls to rape them. In the meantime, a zamindar (Madhusudhan Rao) and his household preserve their daughter (Revathy Sharma) hidden so Justin doesn’t set eyes on her. What occurs days and hours earlier than they lastly attain independence kinds the story.

Director NS Ponkumar’s August 16, 1947, has an fascinating plot. The thought of getting independence after enduring a number of years of slavery and torture has ample scope for feelings. Add a love story to it, the movie may have sufficient meat to make it engrossing. Regardless of having all the mandatory components, August 16, 1947 is a moist squib, due to the orchestrated proceedings.

We’re launched to the village of Sengadu, the place slavery is prevalent. Persons are made to work for the British for 15-16 hours. They aren’t allowed to drink water or urinate. Ladies get kidnapped simply to be raped by Justin. Males within the village are prepared to kill their wives and daughters to avoid wasting them from getting raped. Whereas these are template sequences to evoke optimistic feelings from the viewers, one finally ends up staring on the display with no emotion. Because of the extremely predictable screenplay, each sequence and its follow-up appear orchestrated.

Here is the trailer:

If that’s not sufficient, there are evident logical loopholes which make it tough to take the movie critically. Each battle will get resolved within the subsequent scene. We get to see Paraman’s traumatic childhood and the way his mom handed away. Earlier than the sequence ends, we predict the way it’s going to end up. This additionally will get a callback within the second half. Likewise, the director stacks new subplots one after the opposite within the first half. After they get closure, it fails to create an affect.

Gautham Karthik as Paraman delivered an earnest efficiency within the movie. Pugazh is his sidekick and will get to play a critical position. Within the second half, his efficiency stood out. Revathy Sharma, too, delivered a neat efficiency.

August 16, 1947 has a excessive manufacturing worth, due to producer AR Murugadoss. The setworks and the costumes transport us to the 40s and make you curious to study life again then. Cinematographer SK Selvakumar’s work is impeccable, and so is Sean Roldan’s music.

August 16, 1947 is a movie that has a promising concept, which is tormented by an unimpressive screenplay.

1.5 out of 5 stars for August 16, 1947.