''4 the People'' is a 2004 Indian
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
-language
vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Jayaraj
Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, professionally credited as Jayaraj, is an Indian filmmaker, who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry.
He has won many awards, including Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Golden ...
and written by
Iqbal Kuttippuram
Mohamed Iqbal Kompathayill, commonly credited as Dr. Iqbal Kuttipuram, is an Indian screenwriter and homeopathy physician. He has written screenplays for popular films such as ''Niram'', Arabikkatha, '' Swapnakoodu'','' Vikramadithyan'' and ...
from a story by Jayaraj. It stars
Arun Cherukavil
Arun Cherukavil, mononymously known as Arun, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He made his film debut in ''2000's'' with the role of ''Sooraj'', one of the students, in Mohanlal starrer ''Life is Beautifu ...
,
Bharath, Arjun Bose, and Padma Kumar in the title roles, along with
Gopika
Girly Anto, credited by her screen name Gopika (born 1 February 1984) is an Indian actress, who has predominantly starred in Malayalam films.Starting her career as a model, she ventured into acting with the Malayalam film, ''Pranayamanithooval'' ...
and
Narain
Narayana (Also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from Sanskrit नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity Narayana, another name ...
in supporting roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by debutant
Jassie Gift
Jassie Gift is an Indian film music composer and playback singer. He composes songs and sings for Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. He became famous after the success of his song "Lajjavathiye" from the film ''4 The People''.
He won ...
. The plot follows four engineering students who leads a double-life as members of a vigilante group called 4 the People who physically incapacitates corrupt public servants.
The songs were trendsetters and pioneered a new style of composition in Malayalam cinema. ''4 the People'' was a critical and commercial success at the box office, it was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year. The film was partially shot in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
as ''4 Students''. The film was remade in Telugu as ''
Yuvasena
''Yuvasena'' () is a 2004 Indian Telugu-language film directed by Jayaraj and starring Bharath, Sarvanand, Kishore, Padma Kumar, Suresh Menon, and Gopika. The film is a remake of Jayaraj's own Malayalam film ''4 the People'' (2004).
Cast
* ...
'' (2004). It is followed by two sequels ''
By the People'' (2005) and ''
Of the People
''Of the People'' is a 2008 Indian Malayalam-language vigilante film directed and produced by Jayaraj. It is a sequel to ''4 the People
''4 the People'' is a 2004 Indian Malayalam-language vigilante thriller film directed by Jayaraj and w ...
'' (2008).
Plot
Aravind (
Arun), Vivek (
Bharath), Eshwar (Arjun Bose) and Shafeek (Padma Kumar) are four engineering students from economically struggling families that were victims of society's corruption in one way or the other. Enraged by various injustices happening around them, the group take the law into their own hands and form the secretive clique called 4 The People that targets corrupt officials. They create an identity for themselves with their attire and mode of operation. They dress up in all black and ride bullets. They have a website where the public can lodge their complaints.
From the complaints lodged they chose an official and cut their dominant arm to send a message to other officials and expose them in media with relevant evidences that they collect before attacking a target. The group gains a lot of public support and is regarded as heroes. Their actions also lead to government officials refusing to take bribes in fear of someone lodging a complaint against them to 4 The People. Soon, the police are on their track. A young cop Rajan Mathew (
Narain
Narayana (Also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from Sanskrit नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity Narayana, another name ...
) is in hot pursuit of the gang who are now targeting a corrupt minister.
The foursome attempts to kill the minister, but fails. Seeing the brutality of the police, the students come to the support of the foursome. One of the students kills the minister and is joined by three more students. It is concurrently revealed that these four students were benefited from 4 The People's influence in the society. They escape with the help of other students who were present there and forms ''
a gang of four.''
Cast
*
Arun Cherukavil
Arun Cherukavil, mononymously known as Arun, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He made his film debut in ''2000's'' with the role of ''Sooraj'', one of the students, in Mohanlal starrer ''Life is Beautifu ...
as Aravind Sebastian
*
Bharath as Vivek
* Arjun Bose as Eeswar Iyer
* Padma Kumar as Shafeek
*
Gopika
Girly Anto, credited by her screen name Gopika (born 1 February 1984) is an Indian actress, who has predominantly starred in Malayalam films.Starting her career as a model, she ventured into acting with the Malayalam film, ''Pranayamanithooval'' ...
as Divya Anand
*
Pranathi
Pranathi is an Indian former model and actress. She appeared in a Malayalam-language film and won critical acclaim for her performance in the Tamil language, Tamil film ''Gambeeram'' (2004). She went on to appear in a few Tamil language, Tamil ...
as Teena
*
Narain
Narayana (Also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from Sanskrit नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity Narayana, another name ...
as Rajan Mathew IPS (Credited as Sunil Kumar)
* Adhitya (Jai) as Rajath Kumar
* Chandra Banu as Suanathan A.C.P.
* Ani as Sidharthan G.I.
* Antony Mathew as Alexander Punnoose D.I.G.
* Unni Shivapal as MP's Son
*
Babu Annur as Mahadevan MP
*
Pradeep Kottayam
Pradeep K. R. (1961 – 17 February 2022), professionally credited as Pradeep Kottayam, was an Indian actor who primarily worked in Malayalam films and some Tamil films. He is best known for his comedic roles. His role in the 2010 Tamil film '' ...
Soundtrack
Soundtrack was composed by Jassie Gift. All the songs in both Malayalam and Tamil versions became hugely popular. Jassie Gift later reused "Lajjavathiye" as "Mandakiniye" for Kannada film ''Hudugaata''.
Malayalam
4 Students (Tamil version)
Release
The satellite rights of the film's Tamil version were sold to Star Vijay.
''Sify'' wrote that "Jayaraj's 4 The People is a trendsetter and a welcome change in the placid superstar driven Malayalam film industry". ''Nowrunning'' said that "Though the storyline is wafer-thin, the narration is fast paced and the film is technically brilliant".
Box office
It became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year, grossing ₹3
crore against a budget of ₹40
lakh.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:4 The People
2000s Malayalam-language films
Indian vigilante films
People1
Indian action films
Malayalam films remade in other languages
2004 action films
2004 films
2000s vigilante films