Dubai (2001 film)

Dubai
Directed by	Joshi
Produced by	Preethi Menon
Written by	Renji Panicker
Starring	Mammootty N. F. Varghese Biju Menon Nirmal Pandey Preeta Vijaykumar Anjala Zaveri
Music by	Vidyasagar S. P. Venkatesh (background score)
Cinematography	Sanjeev Sankar
Editing by	K. Sankunni
Studio	Anugraha Combines
Release date(s)	2001 (2001)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	6-8 crores[1][2]
Box office	2-3 crores[1]

Dubai is a 2001 Malayalam thriller film directed by Joshiy with Mammootty in the main role. Scripted by Renji Panicker, Dubai, speaks about the fight of Ravi Mamman, a Dubai based business tycoon against his enemies.

Barring a few scenes in the beginning, the film was completely shot from U. A. E.. It is considered one of the most expensive films ever made in Malayalam. It took almost two years to complete the film, but was a huge fiasco at box office. The film, made at an estimated cost between 6 and 8 crores, incurred a loss of more than 5 crores to the producer.^[1][3] To cut down the running time, the only song was cut in the theaters.

Plot

The films begin with Major Ravi Mamman (Mammootty), in uniform, on hunt for two LTTE terrorists in Bangalore, who are on a mission to assassinate Indian prime minister during his visit to the city. In the run, he reaches out central minister K.K.Nair (Janardanan), who is behind the assassination plot, to make a political coup. Nair tries to buy out Mamman, who refuses to. In an attempt to save himself, Nair shoot Ravi Mamman, but the bullet hits Susan, the girl friend of Ravi Mamman, who dies on the spot. Now a false case is fabricated by Nair on Ravi, of killing Susan, for which Ravi is court marshaled and is send to jail. The story jumps to Dubai, with seven years passing by. Ravi Mamman is now a business tycoon, running a vast business empire over the Middle East. He is assisted by Chandran Nair (N. F. Varghese), an over enthusiastic NRI, with wild instincts and a wild passion for gambling. Ravi mamman's sudden growth has been an eye sore to many, who are eagerly waiting for a chance to finish him off. Swaminathan (Nedumudi Venu), an accountant, who had been a father-like figure for Ravi, since his initial Dubai days, is now in deep financial trouble. He wins a suit in the court and gains several millions of Dirhams, but Victor Sebastian (Cochin Haneefa), his cunning attorney cheats him by joining hands with Kishan Narayan Bhatta (Nirmal Pandey), an underworld don from Mumbai. Victor, gets Swaminathan by getting him signed on several documents, which also includes transfer of several properties to his name. On questioning, he shoots down Swaminathan and his wife. Ammu (Anjala Zaveri), the daughter of Swaminathan, reaches Dubai from Bangalore, for the funeral of him, and is supported by Ravi Mamman, who vows her to get back her property. Kishan Narayan Bhatta tries many ways to resist Ravi Mamman. Kiran pothan Cheriyan (Biju Menon), once subordinate of Ravi in Army, is now enjoying his fast life around the world and reaches Dubai. He, more into liquor and women, is but a pet of Ravi. Alice, the sister of Ravi is almost in love with Kiran, which he also reciprocates. Ravi Mamman, while coming to know about this relationship decides to make Kiran a responsible guy and hands him over the charge of business. This shocks Chandran Nair, who believes that Kiran will destroy his plans to own up the business in future. Kiran, on the other hand, suddenly transforms into a serious businessman, giving up his easy going attitude, as wished by Ravi. Ammu, slowly starts liking Ravi, who is in all efforts to defeat Kishan Bhatta. On a day, when Ravi flies to Mumbai, Chandran Nair asks Kiran to leave with Ammu to a safe home, far away in desert to escape from the goons of Bhatta. But, in reality, he had joined with Bhatta, and is about to kill both Kiran and Ammu. Though, they succeed in setting fire at the house, and take away Ammu, they fails in finishing off Kiran, who gets saved by an Arab servant. Ravi Mamman, on returning back in Dubai is shocked to hear the news, but in seconds realize that it was Chandran Nair, who was behind the plot. Ravi then is asked by Bhatta to reach his resort for a settlement, where he finds K.K.Nair, who is the brain behind Bhatta. K.K.Nair is killed in Delhi at his guest house by ravi secretly and flies back to Dubai to face Bhatta. Ravi, there succeeds in saving Ammu with the help of Kiran, thereby killing Victor and Chandran Nair. On way back, again, they are blocked by Kishan Narayan Bhatta, but in the violent fight that followed, Bhatta is killed by getting his head stuck between the fan of helicopter.

Cast

• Mammootty as Ravi Mammen
• N. F. Varghese as Chandran Nair
• Biju Menon as Kiran Cheriyan Pothan
• Vijayakumar as Yousaf
• Anjala Zaveri as Ammu
• Cochin Haneefa as Victor Sebastian
• Janardanan as K. J. Nair
• Nirmal Pandey as Kishan Narayan Bhatta
• Nedumudi Venu as Swaminathan
• Anjala Zaveri as Alice
• Urmila Unni as Swaminathan's Wife
• Mamukkoya as Kunjappukutty
• Gopi as Joseph Pandala
• Shweta Menon as Dancer

Controversies

To recover the costs, the government permitted theatres screening Dubai to fix their own admission rates for the first week. Dubai incurred charges of six crores by way of finance and interest. The theatre owners who paid up around 4 crore had shell out another 2 crores to wipe out the charges on the film to get it to the theatres. To recover this money, the theatres had to sell the tickets at 100 per seat.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Unni R. Nair (January 4, 2002). "Let down". Screen India. http://www.screenindia.com/20020104/rmala.html. Retrieved April 14, 2011. 
2. ^ "2001 - Another disastrous year for filmdom". Kala Keralam. 2001. http://www.kalakeralam.com/cinema/cinema2001.htm. Retrieved April 14, 2011. 
3. ^ "At the crossroads". Deccan Herald. cscsarchive.org. May 5, 2002. http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/art.nsf/(docid)/74BF0E402B90412FE5256BB400126220. Retrieved March 15, 2011. 
4. ^ "Dubai — Much ado over hiked ticket rates". Screen India. August 24, 2001. http://www.screenindia.com/old/20010824/rmala2.html. Retrieved April 10, 2011. 

External links

• Dubai at the Internet Movie Database