1971 Beyond Borders - " An Epic Disappointment From Major & Team " 1.5/5

[AfsalTouchriver]

1971 Beyond Borders - " An Epic Disappointment From Major & Team "
Rating - 1.5/5
Detailed Analysis
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The foremost and maybe the sole reason why everyone kept some hope on '1971 Beyond Borders' was the sparkling form of Mohanlal who was tasting extraordinary box-office successes one after the other of late.Major Ravi too had showed improvement from his debacles with his last film 'Picket 43' which was a hearty tale of friendship between two soldiers with different nationalities.

'Kandahar' was a disastrous film that wasted even big talents like Mohanlal and Big B and as such a nail in the coffin as far as the 'Keerthichakra' franchise is concerned.1971 too is yet another disappointing addition to the league,the exception being a slightly better storyline and presentation that saves it from being added to the league of golden disasters from Mollywood of the likes of Kandahar and Gangster.

The narrative of 1971 is set in an 'Utopian' land where even Pakistani officials are all praise for the epic heroism that's possessed by the protagonist Major Sahadevan which felt unrealistic and unintentionally funny after a point.Hero-praising dialogues aimed at fans of 'The Complete Actor' are plenty in the movie which I feel is totally distasteful in an emotional war drama that should have been checked at the first place.

Lack of seriousness is evident throughout the narrative and the messages that the movie tried to convey were half-baked and not conceived as they intended them to be.Further,the misplaced songs and over-melodramatic family sentiments made it a horrible experience atleast for a few minutes of the running time of the movie.All the cliches that one associate with a war drama were assembled may it be the letter reading scenes and brutality of Pakistani army to name a few.

The war sequences were a big relief in the monotonous narrative and handled rather well by Major and the team with notable support from Sujith Vasssudev's catchy cinematography.The lengthy,low-light war sequence towards the end could have been presented much better and convincingly.Another notable failure was an emotional father-son sequence at the hospital,which was presented in a hilarious manner to be frank.

I still cant understand the logic behind using Muslim prayers while showcasing Pakistani soldiers and their brutality and similarly using sanskrit verses while depicting heroic acts by Indian army.Whatever be the politics involved,I do believe its hard time censor board make a check into this matter that's alarmingly critical in a secularist state.

Performancewise it was bollywood actor Arunoday Singh who managed to pull out an impressive act as the Pakistani major Raja,despite him being sidelined for reasons that are obvious to the storyline.Lalettan tried his best to get into the shoes of Major Sahadevan but lacked the physique and zeal that the character demanded.Allu Sirish was bearable for the most part.Asha Sarath,Saiju Kurupp,Kannan Pattambi all were okayish at the best.

Songs by Siddharth Vipin,Najim Arshad and Rahul Subramaniam were all good,but placed at wrong junctures in the narration.Artificiality in the makeup of aged Major Sahadevan was evident.Cuts by Samjith MHD were okayish.Frames by Sujith Vassudev were good and particularly impressive during the war sequences.VFX works while presenting explosions were amateurish.

Overall,1971 is a monotonous emotional war-drama that's full of cliched sequences and glorious loopholes.

Notable Positives
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#Few War Sequences #Arunoday Singh

Weak Links
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#Poor Direction #Stereotyped Storyline #Unwanted Hero-Praising Dialogues

Final Verdict::1971 is a half-hearted war-drama that fails to present a convincing narrative at the first place!! Avoid it if you aren't a diehard fan of Mohanlal
_Afsal

Show & Movie Details
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Language - Malayalam
CBFC Rating - U
Starring - Mohanlal,Allu Sirish,Arunoday Singh,Asha Sarath etc
Running Time - 135 Minutes
Theatre::PVS Film City - Screen Coral,Calicut
Date:07/04/17
Showtime::09:00 AM
Status::Housefull
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[bilal john]

Thanks for the review

[baadshahmian]

Thanks bhai

[VinuVerma]

Thanks a lot bhai for your review. I have always felt that you are one of the credible reviewers in FK, keeping all the "fan" part aside and giving an unbiased review. Thanks for all the effort.

[Thevalliparamban]

Thanks bro.

[wayanadan]

താങ്ക്സ് അഫ്സൽ

[ClubAns]

Thanks for the Review.........

[paavam]

thanks for the review

[Film Freak]

Thanks Afsal...

[HariGopal]

Thanks bhai

Excellent review