''Gulumaal: The Escape'' is a 2009 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by V. K. Prakash and written by Rajesh Y. V. It was shot in digital format by cinematographer

Fowzia Fathima Fowzia Fathima (born 24 January 1972) is an Indian film cinematographer and director. Fowzia is known for her cinematography on feature films such as Mitr, My Friend 2012, Gulumaal: The Escape 2009 and Uyir 2006. She is an intuitive practitio ...

, and starred

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the List ...

and Jayasurya. The film is an unofficial remake of the Argentinian crime-thriller film ''

Nine Queens ''Nueve Reinas'' () is a 2000 Argentinian crime film written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky. It stars Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, and Leticia Brédice. In the film, con artists Marcos (Darín) and Juan (Pauls) unexpectedly team up to sell ...

''. The film was remade in Telugu as ''

All the Best All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

'' (2012).

Plot

Jerry Mathews a con man known for his high-stakes scams. His criminal actions create a rift in his family when he attempts to steal the family business from his sister. While planning a heist on a petrol station, Jerry helps an escaped convict, Ravi Varma. Ravi had been caught performing similar heists with a similar con man. Ravi convinces Jerry to plan a formidable heist. An old acquaintance, Bose, tells Jerry of a forged painting that can be used to con a

non-resident Indian Overseas Indians ( IAST: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) are Indians who live outside of the Republic of India. According to the Government of India, ''Non-Resident Indians'' are citizens of In ...

(NRI) out of 50 lakhs. The information creates a rift in the newly formed friendship as both Ravi and Jerry attempt to outdo each other in order to take the money. Coincidentally, Jerry's sister Saira is an employee at the hotel where the NRI is staying, and both Ravi and the NRI fall in love with her. Ravi and Jerry eventually lose the painting and decide to buy the original by pooling their money. They then sell it to the NRI for 3 crore. However, Jerry's father finds out about the plot and tells Saira, which further drives the siblings apart. When Jerry and Ravi realize that the check given to them is invalid, they fight and decide to part ways. Jerry runs into the master con man, Bose, who offers to help him resolve the situation, and takes Jerry to the wedding of Ravi's and Saira's. Jerry learns that the entire sequence of events, starting from the gas station incident, had been completely staged as a form of gentle revenge in return for the scam that had sent Ravi's father Prabhakaran to jail. Jerry asks for forgiveness from everyone and leaves the wedding. As the credits roll, Jerry is seen pondering another scam.

Cast

as Ravi Varma * Jayasurya as Jerry Mathews * Mithra Kurian as Saira Mathews * Nedumudi Venu as Prabhakara Varma *

Suraj Venjaramoodu Suraj Vasudevan (born 30 June 1976), professionally credited as Suraj Venjaramoodu, is an Indian actor, comedian, impressionist, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films, television and stage plays. He has acted in more than 2 ...

as SI Shambhu *

Salim Kumar Salim Kumar (born 10 October 1969) is an Indian actor, comedian, director and writer in Malayalam cinema. Mostly known for his comic and comedy roles, Salim Kumar is considered one of the best and most prominent comedians in the history of Mala ...

as Bhai *

Bijukuttan Biju Kuttan (born 13 May 1976) is an Indian actor and comedian who appears in Malayalam films. As of June 2021, he has acted in more than 70 Malayalam films. Biju Kuttan is born in North Paravur, Ernakulam . He completed most of his schooling ...

as Constable Vasu *

Kottayam Nazeer Kottayam Nazeer is an Indian actor, impressionist, and an artist from Kerala. Kottayam Nazeer started his career as a stage artist . Recently he also started his career in painting. Family Nazeer is married to Haseena. They have two sons, Moh ...

as Appy Biju * Devan as NRI * Maniyanpilla Raju as Rangaswami / Ahammedkutty * Gita Nair as Ravi's mother * Abhirami Suresh as Ravi's sister * Roslin as Jerry's mother * Valsala Menon as Thampuratty *

Samvrutha Sunil Samvritha Sunil (born 31 October 1986) is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 2004 through the film ''Rasikan'' directed by Lal Jose before which she had also appeared as a junior artist in the film '' Ayal ...

as herself (cameo) * Siddique as himself (cameo) * Chali Pala * Deepika Mohan * Vimal Roshan

Reception

The film was described as being similar to Fabián Bielinsky's 2000

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

film ''

'' (''Nueve Reinas'').Vijay George. (13 May 2011)
"Exploring genres"
''The Hindu''. Retrieved 2 July 2011. V. K. Prakash said: "I discovered the ''Nine Queens'' connection only after I liked the subject of ''Gulumaal''". ''Sify.com'' stated that "with a tighter script, better music and lesser length the film could have been even more entertaining", but added, "The best thing about the film could be its unconventional narrative style." ''Indiaglitz.com'' called it "stylish and crazy entertainment", praising the film's "intense believability" and "unstoppable flow of brilliantly witty one-liners", but criticized the poor selection of voices in Manu Rameshan's songs. VN of ''Nowrunning.com'' gave the film 2.5 out of 5, praising "the amazing camaraderie that its lead actors share" but finding fault with the "cacophony" and substandard picturization of the songs. VN also stated that ''Gulumal'' was "a straight lift off the Argentinian film ''Nueve Reinas'' (''Nine Queens'')".

Box office

The film was a commercial success.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 4 songs, all composed by Manu Ramesan, with lyrics by

S. Ramesan Nair S. Ramesan Nair (3 May 1948 – 18 June 2021) was an Indian lyricist and poet who worked predominantly in the Malayalam film industry. Over his career he wrote songs for over 170 films and over 3,000 devotional songs outside of the films. He d ...

and Saimon Palvaay.

References

External links

* {{V. K. Prakash 2000s Malayalam-language films 2000s crime comedy films Indian remakes of foreign films Indian crime comedy films Films directed by V. K. Prakash 2009 comedy films 2009 films Malayalam films remade in other languages