August 16 1947 Movie Review

Films based around the time of independence have across a lot in Indian Cinema, and there are a lot of films on top of our memory when it comes to this space. Along those lines, we have another special offering in the form of 16th August 1947 which has come in as a fictional story set in that time.

The story happens in a village named Sengadu which is cut off from the rest of Madras, and does not get the news about the independence on time. As the village’s tyrant Robert takes down anyone who delays the production of cotton by even a minute, the villagers are perplexed about how they can overthrow the horror they face on a daily basis. Enter Paraman, a man who wishes to throw away the horror but is also more interested in uniting with his love. The events that follow tell us the story of what happens to the village and its people over the course of the days of independence. The first half of the film is very engaging and is filled with very well written moments that have a lot of life in them, and are narrated in a coherent manner. The film emotionally strikes us right during the first half and there are a handful of moments that work right. In the second half however, it loses some steam as there are many dragged portions and melodramatic scenes that could have been put across in a better form. The climax also, is not all the most convincing and does a decent job to end the film alone.

Gautham Karthik gets a quality script after a long time, and the actor proves his mettle with a role that demands a good performance from him. His monologue in the pre climax portion are special, and the actor does well throughout.

Newcomer Revathy is a very good fit into the role of the heroine, and there is also a good show from Pugazh who finds himself in a neat role after Ayothi. The rest of the cast do well but the film has some bad foreign actors who don’t contribute as well as they should.

Sean Roldan’s music is the highlight of the film as his songs in the first half and the background score complement the film superbly. There is also some seriously good cinematography from Selva Kumar capturing the landscape of the film well.

Overall, 1947 works out as a fine film that gets across the concept of independence well and puts forth a good film about it. August 16 1947 Movie Review by Siddarth Srinivas

August 16 1947 Movie Review Rating: 3.25/5