Brother's Day


Brother's Day is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language family thriller film written and directed by Kalabhavan Shajohn in his directorial debut. Produced by Listin Stephen, the film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Prasanna, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Madonna Sebastian, Prayaga Martin and Miya George. The film marks the debut of Prasanna as actor and Dhanush as singer and lyricist in Malayalam cinema. Music for the film was composed by 4 Musics.
Principal photography began on 16 March 2019 and was completed in mid-July after a 96-day long filming. The film was released in theatres worldwide on 6 September 2019.

Plot

The film starts with some children playing around. One of those children is shown to be Shiva, a young child who is very attached to his mother. The father of Shiva is an alcoholic and treats him very badly. The mother of Shiva who is pregnant is taken to the hospital. When Shiva arrives at the hospital, he finds his mother crying and wanting to talk to him. Later, his mother is taken in for her delivery. Unfortunately, his mother dies after giving birth to a daughter. The nurse comes and gives the child in the hands of Shiva. Shiva names her Peeli. Shiva starts taking care of his sister. He and his sister share a beautiful and soulful bond. With time, both grow and come very close to each other. One day, when Shiva returns home he does not see his sister. After searching the entire house he finds that his friend of his father is trying to rape Peeli. He tries to defend his sister but is beaten away. When he goes and tells his father this, he gets to know that all this is happening with his father's consent. In anger, he picks up a sickle and kills his father and later kills the friend to save his sister. He then takes his sister and walks out with the photo of his mother. As soon as he comes out of the house, the people of the village get to know about the incident. Shiva gets scared after seeing so many people and tries to run with Peeli, but Peeli in is a state of shock after seeing two people die in front of her eyes.
The story shifts to a church where a wedding is taking place. A person named Rony is shown wearing a suit. Later it is shown that the wedding is for his boss. Rony is shown to be a part of the catering team. While serving people at the wedding Rony meets Jema and suspects her of crashing the wedding. He later learns that she is the daughter of his boss. They both start to like each other. Rony is then sent to pick up a tourist named Chandy by one of his friends. When he reaches the bus stop he finds Chandy on the roof of the bus. It is shown that Chandy is an alcoholic and very difficult to handle. While taking Chandi back to his friend's hotel Rony is interrupted by some local college students who try to stop him from taking tourists as his friend does not have a license. Rony gets into a fight and thrashes all the students. Later when they reach the hotel, Rony gets to know that the Chandy he brought was someone else. When Chandy, Rony, and Jema go-to hangout Rony narrates a tragic story of his life. It is shown that Rony has a sister, Ruby who is bedridden and has serious health issues. Then in a flashback, Rony explains how the incident took place. Ruby was in love with his friend and both get married and go on their honeymoon. Ruby and his friend are later found in the jungle where his friend has been killed by someone and his sister is in critical condition. Later, Chandy meets with an accident and breaks his left leg. Rony goes to help him and becomes god friends with Chandy. It is revealed that the true identity of Chandi is a businessman. Chandi introduces his daughter, Santa to Rony. One day he takes Santa to meet his sister Ruby. When they meet he finds out about Shiva, a notorious criminal who is the reason for the death of his friend and injuries of his sister. A series of events are shown to showcase the crimes Shiva has committed. Later, it is shown that Santa is Peeli and was adopted by Chandi when she was in an orphanage. In a series of events, it is revealed that Shiva is the brother of Santa and he used her for committing crimes.
Santa is blackmailed by Shiva for money. When she reaches a jungle to give Shiva money, he tries to kill her. He holds her as a hostage in a place. When Chandy and Rony come to know about all this they go in search of Santa. Rony goes into the jungle to find Santa whereas Chandi stays in the car. Rony finds Santa and tries to escape. Suddenly Shiva appears in front of Rony with his goons. Rony fights with all the goons while Shiva takes Santa. Rony rushes behind Shiva and both them start fighting. Rony hits Shiva and takes Santa with him. Shiva then tries to kill them with a rod when Chandi comes and hits him with the car. Shiva is shown smiling and then the movie shows that Ruby, is fine and Rony is taking her home. A flashback is shown where Rony kills shiva with the same rod while Shiva is smiling. In the end, it is shown that Rony, Jema, and Ruby go on a long drive.

Cast

Production

Brother's Day marks the directorial and screenwriter debut of actor Kalabhavan Shajohn. It was at the sets of Oozham that Shajohn narrated the screenplay to Prithviraj. Shajohn had no plans of directing the film at that time. He asked Prithviraj to recommend anyone and Prithviraj encouraged Shajohn to direct the film himself and agreed to act provided that he direct. Produced by Listin Stephen, the film was made on a budget of 7 crore. Shajohn describes the film as a "family thriller".Miya, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Madonna Sebastian and Prayaga Martin plays the four female lead roles. The film marks the Malayalam film debut of actor Prasanna. Principal photography began on 16 March 2019. After a 96-day long shoot the film was wrapped in mid-July 2019. The film was shot in locations such as Pollachi, Kuttikkanam, Ernakulam, and Munnar.

Soundtrack

The music for the film was composed by the ensemble group 4 Music and Nadirshah. Dhanush penned and sung the Tamil song "Nenjodu Vinaa", marking his singing debut in Malayalam. Madhu Vasudevan, B. K. Harinarayanan, Jis Joy, Nellai Jayantha were the other lyricists.

Release

Brother's Day was released in theatres worldwide on 6 September 2019, ahead of the Onam week in Kerala.