''Dubai'' is a 2001 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

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by Joshiy starring Mammootty, N. F. Varghese, Biju Menon and

Nirmal Pandey Nirmal Pandey (10 August 1962 – 18 February 2010) was an Indian Bollywood actor who was known for his role of Vikram Mallah in Shekhar Kapur's '' Bandit Queen'' (1994),and Dajjal in Television Series Hatim, for portraying a transvestite in ' ...

Anjala Zaveri Anjala Zaveri (born 20 April 1972) is a British actress who has primarily appeared in Telugu and Hindi language films, as well as few films in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. Personal life Zaveri was born on 20 April 1972 in a Gujarati family in ...

, Vijayakumar, Cochin Haneefa, Janardhanan,

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 ...

and

Preetha Vijayakumar Preetha Vijayakumar (born 10 January 1982) is an former Indian actress. Career Preetha had first signed up to portray the leading role in Ravi Raja Pinisetty's Telugu film ''Rukmini'' opposite Vineeth in 1997, but delays meant her Tamil film ...

play supporting roles. The script for the film was written by

Renji Panicker Renji Panicker (born 23 September 1960) is an Indian actor, scriptwriter, director, film producer, and journalist best known for his Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with '' Bharatchandran IPS'' in 2005. Early life He did hi ...

. It received negative reviews from the critics and was a failure at the box office. Barring a few scenes in the beginning, the film was completely shot 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 t ...

. It was one of the most-expensive films made in Malayalam cinema at that time. Although made over a huge budget and completed in almost two years, it ended as an average grosser.

Plot

In 1989, Major Ravi Mammen is brought to interrogate two arrested LTTE terrorists in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

, who are on a mission to assassinate the Indian Prime Minister on his visit to the city - later identified as professional assassins with no ties with any organisation. On the run, he identifies the Union Home Minister, K. J. Nair as the main conspirator behind the assassination plot. Nair anticipates a political coup after the death of the Prime Minister, through which he hopes to seize power. However, Mammen's attempts to foil his ambition. Nair tries to buy out Mammen, who refuses his offers. In an attempt to capture Nair and to unravel the conspiracy in the public domain, Mammen shoots at Nair, but the bullet accidentally hits Susan Joseph Pandala, Mammen's girlfriend, who dies on the spot. Nair fabricates a criminal case against Ravi Mammen, of killing Susan. Ravi is court-marshalled and sent to jail. Upon release, Ravi leaves to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, where he emerges as a successful businessman in a short time. His business empire is spread all over the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. He is assisted by Chandran Nair, an over-enthusiastic NRI. Ravi's sudden acquisition of exponential financial power and influence makes him an enemy of many who are eagerly waiting for a chance to finish him off. Swaminathan, a businessman and a fatherlike figure for Ravi, is in deep financial trouble. He wins a lawsuit and gains several million

Dirhams The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of mass The dirham was a un ...

, but Vincent Sebastian, his cunning attorney, cheats him by conspiring with Kishan Narayan Bhatta, an underworld don from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. Vincent kills Swaminathan and his wife, after forcefully transferring properties to his name. Ammu, Swaminathan's daughter reaches Dubai from

for the funeral. Ravi promises her that he will recover her property. Bhatta tries many ways to resist Ravi. Lieutenant Kiran Cheriyan Pothan, once a subordinate of Ravi in the Army, is in love with Alice - sister of Ravi. Ravi Mammen, while coming to know about this relationship, decides to make Kiran a responsible individual hands over the reins of business to him. Chandran Nair, who was holding huge power over Ravi, finds Kiran to be his enemy and joins Bhatta. In the absence of Ravi, he plots the murder of Kiran and Ammu. However they are saved by an Arab servant. Ravi Mammen realises the role of Chandran Nair behind the plot. Chandran Nair shoots himself and is killed. Bhatta asks Ravi to visit him in his resort to agree a final settlement, where he discovers K. J. Nair to be the brains behind Bhatta. Ravi kills K. J. Nair at his guest house in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

after which he flies back to Dubai to face Bhatta. Ravi succeeds in saving Ammu with the help of Kiran, and during the ensuing struggle, Vincent gets killed by Kiran. On his way back again, they are blocked by Bhatta, but in the violent fight that follows, Bhatta is killed after getting his head chopped by the fan of a helicopter. The film ends with Ravi, Ammu and Kiran leaving in the same helicopter which killed Bhatta.

Cast

* Mammootty as Major Ravi Mammen * N. F. Varghese as Chandran Nair * Biju Menon as Lt. Kiran Cheriyan Pothan *

as Kishan Narayan Bhatta * Vijayakumar as Yousaf *

as Alice * Cochin Haneefa as Vincent Sebastian * Janardhanan as Minister K. J. Nair *

as Swaminathan *

as Ammu Swaminathan *

Mamukkoya Mamukkoya (born 5 July 1946) is an Indian actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema, and has also appeared in French film ''Flammens of Paradise''. He has mostly appeared in comedic roles. His unique usage of the Mappila dialect and style mar ...

as Kunjappukutty *

Urmila Unni Urmila Unni is an Indian classical dancer and actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Her daughter Utthara Unni is also an actress. Personal life Unni was born on June 14th, 1962 into a royal family as the daughter of K. C. Anuja ...

as Kunjulakshmi, Swaminathan's Wife *Remya Lekshmanan as Anjali Bhakthiyar *

Bharath Gopi Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair (2 November 1937 – 29 January 2008), popularly known by the stage name Bharat Gopy, was an Indian actor, producer and director. He was one of the first actors to be associated with the New Wave cinema movement in ...

as Joseph Pandala/Ouseppukutty *

Vindhya The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India. Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...

as Susan Joseph Pandala *Sagar Shiyas as Majeed *Niyaz Musliyar as Shakeel *Murali Mohan as Mattathil Rajan Abraham Chako *

Shweta Menon Shwetha Menon is an Indian actress, model and television anchor. She won '' Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 1994''. She has predominantly acted in Malayalam and Hindi language films, besides appearing in a number of Telugu and Tamil Language Fi ...

in a special appearance in the

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...

"Hai Hillalin Thanka"

Soundtrack

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 e ...

was composed by

S. P. Venkatesh S. P. Venkatesh (also credited as Sangeetharajan; born 5 March 1955) is an Indian music director and composer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He was at his prime in the late 80s and 90s, being reputed for his background scores and songs ...

, who has collaborated with director Joshy on several blockbusters including '' No.20 Madras Mail'', ''

Dhruvam ''Dhruvam'' () is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Joshiy, where story and dialogue are by S. N. Swamy and A. K. Sajan and screenplay by S. N. Swamy. It stars Mammootty, Jayaram, Suresh Gopi, Vikram, Gautami ...

'', '' Kauravar'', ''

Lelam ''Lelam'' (Malayalam: ''ലേലം'', en, The Auction) is a 1997 Indian Malayalam-language action drama directed by Joshiy and written by Renji Panicker. It stars Suresh Gopi and M. G. Soman with Siddique, N. F. Varghese, Nandini, Maniyanpi ...

'' and ''

Vazhunnor ''Vazhunnor'' () is a 1999 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Joshiy and written by Benny P. Nayarambalam. The film stars Suresh Gopi, Samyuktha Varma, Sangeetha, Janardanan and Jagathy Sreekumar. The film was scored by ...

''. The songs featured in the film were composed by Vidyasagar, with lyrics written by

Gireesh Puthenchery Girish Puthenchery (1961–2010) was a noted Malayalam Lyricist, Poet, Scriptwriter and Screenwriter. He was always referred to as the aristocratic lyricist of Malayalam who had a distinctive writing style of his own. He also served as the dire ...

and NS Bedi.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubai (2001 Film) Films directed by Joshiy Indian political thriller films Indian action thriller films 2000s Malayalam-language films Films set in Dubai Films shot in Dubai Films shot in Bangalore Films shot in Delhi Indian Army in films Films scored by Vidyasagar