Twenty:20 is a 2008 Malayalam action-drama film directed by Joshi, written by Uday Krishnan-Sibi K. Thomas, and produced by Dileep. The film is known for starring all the major actors in the Malayalam film industry, and is quite widely called as the mother of all multi-starrers.^[2][3][4] Twenty:20 is probably the only project in the history of modern cinema in which all major actors in a film industry has taken part. The actors worked without pay in order to raise funds for the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA).^[5] The film's music is composed by Berny-Ignatius and Suresh Peters. Upon its release on November 5, 2008, the film was greeted with positive reviews from critics and record breaking collections from the box-office. The first week distributors share of the film stood at Rs. 5.72 crore.^[6] Twenty:20 is also the Malayalam film with widest opening inside and outside Kerala. The total number of opening prints releasing inside Kerala was 117 while outside Kerala approximately 25 prints were released on November 21, 2008, including 4 prints in the USA and 11 prints in the UAE.^[7]

Plot

Mammooty(Ramesh Nambiar) is playing as a very successful lawyer, Mohanlal (Devaraja Prathapa Varma) a rich business man and Suresh Gopi (Antony Punnekkadan) a tough and suave police officer. Arun Kumar (Indrajith Sukumaran) murders a girl in Banglore Medical College. Ashwathy Nambiar (Bhavana), sister of Mammootty is the witness of the murder. Arun Kumar along with his two relatives (Manoj K. Jayan & Shammy Thilakan) injects morphin in Ashwathy's body and Arun rapes her. Karthik (Dileep), lover of Ashwathy and brother of Mohanlal who came to save Ashwathy is killed. Antony Ponnekkadan IPS (Suresh Gopi) is in charge of the case and he arrests Arun Kumar. But Arun Kumar is saved from case by advocate Ramesh Nambiar who is unaware that Arun is behind his sister's ill fate. This incident enrages Devraja Pathapa Varma (Mohanlal) and he himself seeks revenge on his brother's killers and kills Arun. But Antony Ponnekkadan IPS (Suresh Gopi) witnesses this and arrests Devraja. Devaraja and his assistants play a drama and tricks Ramesh Nambiar to believe that Devaraja is innocent. Ramesh with his excellence in the court saves Devaraja from the case. But after that Devaraja reveals to Ramesh that he is the real killer and he played a trick on Ramesh as a vengeance for saving Arun. This triggers a feud between Devaraja Prathapa Varma and Ramesh Nambiar. When Devraja tries to kill the remaining two relatives who were involved in the crime, Ramesh traps him and he is eventually arrested by Antony Ponnekkadan. After that Ramesh comes to know about what really happened to his sister through Vinod Bhaskher (Jayaram) her teacher. Devaraja escapes from police custody and in the climax he joins with Ramesh Nambiar to kill the culprits with the help of Antony Ponnekkadan.

Production

Twenty:20 is made as a fundraiser for AMMA. The script was written by Uday Krishna and Sibi K Thomas. As a producer, Dileep is the main investor in the project and he bought the rights of the film for 4 crore. He handed over the money to AMMA officially a year before. The film shooting officially started at a ceremony held in Hotel White Fort, Kochi with Dileep handing over the advance to Joshi.^[8] The filming was primarily held in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. A song sequence in the film was shot in Mauritius.^[9] The shooting of the film was started on December 7, 2007 and finished in October 2008.

Cast

Controversies

Since the announcement of the film, there were several controversies surrounding Twenty 20:

Twenty 20 was the biggest production Malayalam film industry has ever seen in terms of size of cast and number of schedules. Originally, the shooting of the film was planned to be completed in 1 schedule between 7 December 2007 to 27 January 2008.^[11] Reports surfaced in July 2008 which suggested that star egos are delaying the film and that the AMMA may call a meeting to sort out the issues.^[12] The reliability of the reports notwithstanding, the film was completed in 20 schedules.

Meera Jasmine, who was slated to act in the film opposite Dileep, backed off citing shortage of dates. There were reports that the AMMA is planning a ban on her regarding the issue.^[13] However no ban was pronounced and Meera Jasmine was replaced with Bhavana. That on the other hand made Meera Jasmine along with Navya Nair the only major artists in the industry without a role in the film.

The film was earlier planned to be released in 70 A-Class centres across Kerala. The owners of B and C Class theatres demanded the film be released in their theatres also, like Mohanlal-starrer Kurukshetra. Finally it was decided to release the film in 117 centres including selected B and C Class theatres.

After the release of theatrical posters there were reports that Mohanlal fans were unhappy about the positioning of the star in the main poster. The poster had Mammooty at the centre with Suresh Gopi and Jayaram to his right, and Mohanlal and Dileep to his left.^[14] There was also reports that Mohanlal fans were planning to boycott the film.^[15] However after the release of the film, which has equal importance to both the stars, reports of objections were hardly heard.

The film was shown with 50% hiked ticket fares on the opening day, and the distributors were planning to continue with the hiked rate for 2 more days. The producers also managed to get a government order sanctioning this. However, the plan had to be scrapped after a stay by the High Court of Kerala in response to a case filed on the matter.^[16]

Audio release

The audio launch of the film was held in a grand function at Hotel Travancore Court, Eranakulam.^[17] AMMA president and actor Innocent released the audio CD by handing it over to actress Manju Warrier, who is the wife of actor Dileep, the producer of the film. The music rights of the film was reportedly purchased with a record price by Manorama music. The music CD pack carries a bonus VCD of the video film The Making of Twenty:20. There are four songs in the album.^[18] One by the composers Berny-Ignatius (Sa re ga ma pa) and others by Suresh Peters.

Reception

Twenty:20 was released in 117 centres on 5 November 2008. The film was received with overwhelmingly positive reviews by critics, and with record collection at the box-office.^[19] Sify.com gave its vedict as "rocking" and called the film " stylish, racy and never a dull moment super entertainer".^[20] The reviewer went on to write that the film "is a winner all the way" and that "it is a blockbuster in the making and is refreshingly fresh, innovative entertaining and highly recommended". Rediff.com rated the film 3/5 (quite good).^[21] The reviewer called film "surprisingly good" and gave credit to the producer for "designing a miracle". However, the reviewer also complained that "it was disappointing to see that youngsters like Prithviraj, Jayasurya and Kunchako Boban reduced to group dancers in Nayanthara's item number". The Malayalam Webdunia review called the film a "100% entertainer" and lauded director Joshi and screenwriters Sibi K. Thomas - Udayakrishna for giving equal importance to superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal.^[22]

The film was well received at the box-office also.^[23] The film broke the collection record for first day with Rs. 2.6 crores gross and grossed over 10 crores in first week itself.^[24] The film was shown with 50% hiked ticket fares on the releasing day, and was planning to continue the hiked rate for 3 days. The producers also managed to get a government order regarding this. However, the plan had to be scrapped after a stay by the High Court of Kerala.^[25]

The first week distributors share of the film stood at Rs. 5.72 crores, making it the highest grossing Malayalam film in the opening week.^[26]

Twenty:20 opened at the external market on November 21, 2008 with approximately 25 prints, including 4 prints in the USA, 11 prints in the UAE and 7 prints in Tamilnadu.^[27]

References

External links

• Official website
• Twenty:20 at IMDb