Athisayan

About the film

Athishayan (transl. The Astounded) is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language science fiction monster film written and directed by Vinayan, starring Master Devadas with Jackie Shroff (in his Malayalam film debut), Jayasurya, Mukesh, Kavya Madhavan and Karthika in other roles. The film is inspired from the 2003 film Hulk. In the film, Devan is an orphan raised by Maya, an investigative journalist. When she is abducted before she can expose a high-profile group of criminals, Devan consumes an invisibility potion to save her but he is unaware of its side effects.

Plot

Maya, a young television reporter, works for New India Television. Radharamanan, the managing director of the channel, has a fascination for Maya, who was brought up in an orphanage by Father Chanthakkadan. Maya takes up the responsibility of bringing up a few orphans whom she has picked up from the streets. One of these kids is Devan, who is sort of a child prodigy, with a computer-like mind and very good in studies and extra-curricular activities. R. C. Shekhar, a scientist, lives very close their house, with his servant Damodaran. He is working on a project, which could help in making human beings invisible. On the very day that he successfully experiments with his 'magic' potion on a rabbit, which Devan watches. After the experiment, he is urgently called to the U.S. as his daughter Sunitha, who is studying there, meets with an accident.

Meanwhile, Maya's boyfriend Roy, also a journalist, is in jail after he is framed in a murder case of a young woman Shahina by some influential politicians, including the State Revenue Minister Divakaran, another minister Yunus Kunju, the Commissioner Shanmughan and the very influential Kuwait Nazar. With the help of the newly appointed Collector Anita Williams, Maya shoots a video of these baddies accepting millions of rupees as commission from some Arab businessmen, who are there to sign some business deals with the State Government.

Maya immediately goes to Radharamanan and shows him the clip. Radharamanan is thrilled and agrees to telecast it, after discussing it with the board of directors. Somehow Nazar, Divakaran and others come to know of this and they go after Maya, to get from her the memory card containing the clipping. On the very same day that R. C. Shekhar goes to the U.S, Maya is kidnapped by Nazar and his henchmen. The kids are baffled. Anita Williams, Father Chanthakkadan and Radharamanan know who are behind this, but nothing can be done without sufficient evidence. And then Devan sneaks into Shekhar's lab and drinks the potion. He becomes invisible and sets out to save Maya.

Production

Devadas was cast in the film because the film's producer was his father's friend. This was the first film he shot for although Anandabhairavi was released first. The shooting of the film was in Kerala, mainly in locations in Aluva and Ernakulam. The film was high on special effects, visual effects and 2D Animation. These special effects of Athisayan were done at EFX, Chennai. Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff plays a scientist in this film, which marks his Malayalam debut.

Soundtrack

The music of Athisayan is by Alphonse Joseph. The lyrics are written by Vinayan and Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma. The film has four songs. The singers are Vineeth Sreenivasan, Rimi Tomy, Vidhu Prathap, Balu, Karthik and Sithara. Sithara was debuted through this film.

Release and reception

Athisayan was released in Kerala during the summer vacation, on 17 April 2007, mainly aiming at children.

A critic from Sify wrote that the film "defies all logic and is a hotch potch of various films. At best it provides some fun for the kids, however the graphic work in the film is tacky, making it difficult to watch the long drawn out climax scenes [...] A battalion of comedians and kids provide some relief. Master Devadas's ability to play his characters wit and melancholy keeps the film going".

The Hindi dubbed version of the film, titled Naya Ajooba, was released in 2009.

Key details