''Carbon'' is a 2018 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

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

thriller film written and directed by

Venu The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...

, starring

Fahadh Faasil Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Nati ...

and

Mamta Mohandas Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, film producer and a playback singer of Malayalam film industry, she has also worked in Tamil and Telugu productions. She has acted in more than 50 films and won several accolades including two Filmfare Awar ...

. The film follows Sebastian and Sameera on their expedition to find a lost

treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

deep inside a forest.

K. U. Mohanan K. U. Mohanan is an Indian film cinematographer who primarily works in the Bollywood and Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industries. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. ...

was the

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

, while

Vishal Bhardwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bha ...

and

Bijibal Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films, documentaries, short films and television commercials. He has composed for more than 150 feature films, several documentaries and televisi ...

composed the songs and the score, respectively.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

took place between August and October 2017 in several hilly terrain locations in North

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. Carbon was released in India on 19 January 2018 to positive response from the critics, particularly praising the visuals and Fahadh Faasil's performance. The film won six

Kerala State Film Awards The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...

, the most awards for any film for that year.

Plot

Sibi is a young adult who wants to make it big in the quickest possible way. His search for his goal leads him to be caretaker of a dilapidated palace. He plunges into the legends related to the palace and starts to search for treasure hidden somewhere in the surrounding jungle.

Cast

as Sibi Stephen *

as Sameera * Manikandan R. Achari as Stalin *

Dileesh Pothan Dileesh Philip (born 19 February 1980), also known as Dileesh Pothan is an Indian film director, actor and producer, who works in Malayalam cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2016 comedy drama film '' Maheshinte Prathikaaram'', star ...

as Thamban *

Soubin Shahir Soubin Shahir (born 12 October 1983) is an Indian actor and director who works in Malayalam cinema. He began his film career as an assistant director in 2003 and worked under several directors. Soubin made his acting debut in 2013 with a suppo ...

as Aanakkaran Rajesh * Chethan Jayalal as Kannan *

Kochu Preman K. S. Premkumar (1 June 1955 – 3 December 2022), better known by his stage name Kochu Preman, was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. He acted in more than 300 films, mainly in supporting comedy roles, an ...

as Balan Pillai *

Spadikam George George Antony, popularly credited as Spadikam George is an Indian actor and former Kerala state Police officer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He came to the limelight with the 1995 film ''Spadikam'', after which his name was preceded b ...

as Stephen Varkey *

Vijayaraghavan Vijayaraghavan (born 20 December 1951) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is popular for his character roles. He is the son of popular drama and cinema artist N. N. Pillai. He got his break by playing the icon ...

as M. D. *

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

as Basheer *

Sharaf U Dheen Sharafudheen, professionally credited as Sharaf U Dheen, is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his acting debut in 2013 with ''Neram''. He got his breakthrough by portraying the role of ''Girirajan Kozhi'' in ''Premam'' (20 ...

as Santhosh *

Praveena Praveena is an Indian Television actress and a dubbing artist who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, she has also appeared in Tamil and Telugu films. She started her acting career through 1992 film ''Gowri''. She has received several ...

as Deepa Pradeep * Ashokan (Guest appearance)

Production

According to Venu, Fahadh was in his mind for the lead role from the beginning, "It was conceptualised and written with Fahadh in mind and I could not have made the film with someone else".

began by mid-August 2017. It was originally scheduled to begin by the end of March, but the "state-of-the-art" movie camera the makers ordered from abroad arrived only by August. The first schedule of filming that continued till mid-October completed inside the forests in

Kattappana Kattappana is a municipal town in the Sahyadri (or Western Ghats) of Kerala state, India. It is the main urban centre in the high ranges of Idukki district, situated about from sea level. It is the second city to became a municipality in ...

, Idukki district. Later it was shot in

Erattupetta Erattupetta is a municipal town located in Kottayam district, close to the place Aruvithura, state of Kerala, India,. It is located 38 km east of Kottayam, the district capital. Erattupetta Grama Panchayath was founded in 1964 and upgrade ...

Erumely Erumely, also spelt "Erumeli" is a panchayat in the southeast part of Kottayam district in Kerala state, India. Erumely is situated 49 km east of Kottayam town and 133 km North of capital city Trivandrum. It is situated on the way to Sa ...

, and

Pala Pala may refer to: Places Chad *Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest Estonia * Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County * Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County *Pala, Järva County, vi ...

Kottayam district Kottayam (), is one of 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettumanoor, and Vaikom. It is the only district in Kerala that neither borders the ...

, and in

Wayanad Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...

. The film completely used sync sound. The film was shot in 12 locations, including

Theni Theni is a valley town situated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu at the foothills of Western Ghats. It is the headquarters of the Theni district, located in a distance of 70km from Madurai. It is known for the large-scale trading of garlic, c ...

and

Attappadi Attappady (HQ:Agali) is a tribal taluk in Kerala state covering an area of . It is carved out from Mannarkkad taluk in Palakkad district on February 2021. Attappady Reserve Forest is a protected area comprising 249 km2 of land area in ...

Music

The original songs were composed by

, with lyrics by

Rafeeq Ahamed Rafeeq Ahmed (born 17 December 1961) is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a five-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs in his cr ...

. The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was composed by

. ;Track listing: * "Thanne Thaane" -

Benny Dayal Benny Dayal (born 13 May 1984) is an Indian playback singer. He is a prominent singer in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati and Marathi and more languages films. He has sung more than 3500 songs in 19+ Indian languages. ...

* "Doore Doore" -

Rekha Bhardwaj Rekha Bhardwaj (born 24 January 1964) is an Indian singer and live performer. She has received two Filmfare and one National Awards. In addition to Hindi, she has also sung in Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Malayalam languages. Personal li ...

* "Kaatin Sarangi" -

Release

The film was released on 19 January 2018.

Box office

The film collected $143,686 from 32 screens in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

in the opening weekend (1 – 4 February) and $180,315 in two weeks.

Critical reception

Rating 4 out of 5 stars, Manoj Kumar R. of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' wrote "Venu has maintained a firm grip on the storytelling and beautifully brings out emotional conflicts in the characters in a well-written screenplay. Carbon is an engaging adventure film that should not be missed". Meera Suresh of ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'' also gave 4 out of 5 and said "''Carbon'' ultimately belongs to Venu. It is how he adds layers of meaning, without seeming to, that sets him apart. That he puts forth the most philosophical and thought-provoking concept in such an engaging and simple format is an attestation of his talent". ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' Deepa Soman rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and noted that "though an adventure thriller that keeps us on the edge of our seats, ''Carbon'' also prods your thoughts, through the protagonist’s journey, about these larger questions of purposes, revelations and perseverance".

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu'' ...

of Film Companion South wrote "The year has just dawned and I can state, with confidence, that it’s unlikely we see a stranger film, so richly atmospheric, so lyrical and literal at once"

Awards

;

* Best Cinematographer -

* Best Music Director -

Vishal Bharadwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bh ...

* Best Sound Recordist - Anil Radhakrishnan * Best Sound Mixing -

Sinoy Joseph Sinoy Joseph (born 31 July 1981) is an Indian film sound mixer and sound designer. He won the 60th National Film Awards for the best Re-recordist of the Final Mixed Track for the film ''Gangs of Wasseypur''. He also won the best sound mixing a ...

* Best Sound Design - Jayadevan Chakkadath * Best Processing Lab/Colourist – Prime Focus

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 6650364 2018 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films scored by Vishal Bhardwaj Films scored by Bijibal Indian adventure thriller films Treasure hunt films