Art forms are rarely fingers pointing towards the future. The recently released Malayalam Movie, Jana Gana Mana, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and directed by Dijo Jose Antony is one of a kind. The Movie brought out the hidden politics and the anticipated electoral dividends from the encounter killings. With the Supreme Court-appointed Committee on the infamous Hyderabad Killings finding then Hero of the Country, Sajjanar as guilty of a fake encounter killing, the Movie had become a pan-Indian topic for discussion.
After successfully completing 50 days at Indian Box Office, The movie is now on a juggernaut since it was released on NETFLIX on June 2. The Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil versions of the movie made it to National Trending #1, #5 & #10 respectively and simultaneously. It also grabbed TRENDING #8 Worldwide in NETFLIX in the non-english films category. The story and the characters of the movie had similarities with this particular incident and a Malayalam movie coming as PAN Indian release has strengthened the discussions regarding Jana Gana Mana. People from all over the country could relate to the theme. Director Dijo Jose is also credited with the way the movie was made.
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The movie has hit the 50-crore box office club and is the 12th Malayalam movie to achieve this credit. With KGF and RRR making strides across the country, the makers of Jana Gana Mana are eyeing a PAN India reach. There was a time when Indian movies were synonymous just with Bollywood. But the pandemic and the consequent acceptance of OTT platforms had made content as the King and this has heavily favoured the south Indian industry which was mainly content-driven. For every Kashmir Files from the North, there will be a Jana Gana Mana from the South.
The best examples of the same are RRR from the Telugu movie industry directed by S S Rajamouli, Prasanth Neel’s Kannada movie KGF 2 and of course the Malayalam movie Jana Gana Mana directed by Dijo Jose Antony. Another point to be noted is that when KGF 2 and RRR were big-budget movies and Jana Gana Mana costs around 15 crore rupees only and it could become the talk of the town, buttressing the point that content is more relevant than the budget.
Considering all these, it’s quite sure that the director Dijo Jose Antony is hoping to Indian Cinema. When people are scared to talk against the Government, the director is confident enough to speak up about the hard truths. That’s the hope he has given to the Indian movie industry. Dijo Jose Antony could say that truth has to be discussed through movies – be it Politics or anything. It’s indeed a sure thing to note that the making of the movie is of world standards and the whole credit goes to the director Dijo Jose Antony.
