''Fourth River'' is a 2020 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

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The ...

film directed by

RK DreamWest RK DreamWest is an Indian-American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. RK started his creative career in theater and directed several theater productions including the most acclaimed "The Journey"

009 009 may refer to: * OO9, gauge model railways * O09, FAA identifier for Round Valley Airport * 0O9, FAA identifier for Ward Field, see List of airports in California * British secret agent 009, see 00 Agent * BA 009, see British Airways Flight 9 * ...

and "Uthirkaalam" (Fall Sea ...

, starring Diphul Mathew, Nithu Chandran, Baiju Bala and Rahul Krishna in key roles. Released on 28 June 2020 through

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

, it is the first ever

Malayalam language 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 ...

film to have a direct to OTT. The film produced under the banner of Dreamwest Global by executive producers Johnson Thankachan and George Varky is shot in and around

Munnar Munnar () is a town and hill station in the Idukki district of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. Munnar is situated at around above mean sea level, in the Western Ghats mountain range. Munnar is also called the "Kashmir of South Indi ...

Valley,

Ponmudi Ponmudi (the Golden Peak) also known as Kashmir of Kerala is a hill station in the Peringamala gramapanchayath of Trivandrum District of Kerala in India. It is located 22km west of Vithura town, 53 km north-east of Trivandrum City, 78&n ...

and

Chitranjali Studio Chitranjali ( ml, ചിത്രാഞ്ജലി) is a film production studio located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It was established in 1980s by the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC). The studio is located in the hil ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Plot

''Fourth River'' tells the life of four Naxalite revolutionaries: Naxalite Stephen, his wife Comrade Sophia, his daughter Naxalite Anitha, and their mentor Naxalite Ravi Master as they lived through a turbulent period of the Naxalite movement in India.

Cast

*Diphul Mathew *Nithu Chandran *Baiju Bala *Vandhitha Manoharan *Rahul Krishna *Mohan Ollur *Ala Lakshman *Pramod Padiyath *John Joe

Production

Director

and "Uthirkaalam" (Fall Sea ...

had the intention to make a film based on the Communist political movement in India that started in the early 1920s as an anti-colonial struggle when the country was still ruled by Britain. The film progresses through the time after independence in 1947 when the moderate faction of the party joined the democratic process and became the ruling party in several Indian states. In 1967, the dissatisfied extreme left revolutionaries who believed in the Maoist ideology split from the party and launched an armed uprising in the remote tribal village of

Naxalbari Naxalbari (also spelled Naksalbari) is a village in the Naxalbari CD block in the Siliguri subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. Naxalbari is famous for being the site of a 1967 revolt that would eventuall ...

. Despite several brutal crackdowns, the movement quickly spread to the Southern states. The armed revolutionaries were branded as Naxalites. Since then many of them moved to jungles and remote tribal villages continuing their struggle through guerrilla wars. The film focuses on the struggle of plantations workers in

, a mountain region in South India known for Tea Plantations. Plantation owners had been exploiting workers through bonded slavery and cruel punishments for decades. The exploitation culminated in the '90s. Workers launched union strikes under the leadership of the Communist party. As the strike prolonged to several months, poverty and suicides became a routine thing in the valley. Slowly the Communist party lost interest in the strikes and workers became desperate. Naxalites moved in; several workers joined the Naxalite movement changing the life in the valley forever; for better or worse. As demanded by the screenplay, the film was shot in and around

, and

. With the Prime Video as the distributor, Fourth River became the first ever

film to have a direct to OTT release on 28 June 2020.

Awards

The film won the best feature film and the best cinematographer award for Nithin.K Raj at the Canadian cinematography awards and won the best director, best cinematographer and '3rd best feature film' awards at Prague International Film Festival.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 12349900 2020 films Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020s political thriller films Indian political thriller films Films about Naxalism Films shot in Munnar Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Films about communism Amazon Prime Video original films 2020 direct-to-video films 2020 thriller films 2020s Malayalam-language films