David (2013 Tamil film)

David
Poster
Directed by	Bejoy Nambiar
Produced by	Bejoy Nambiar Sharada Trilok Vikram
Written by	Bejoy Nambiar Natasha Sahgal
Starring	Vikram Jiiva Tabu Lara Dutta Isha Sharvani
Music by	Mikey McCleary Remo Fernandes Anirudh Ravichander Prashant Pillai Modern Mafia
Cinematography	R. Rathnavelu P. S. Vinod
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Production company	Getaway Films
Distributed by	Reliance Entertainment
Release dates	1 February 2013 (2013-02-01)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

David is a 2013 Indian Tamil drama film directed by Bejoy Nambiar, starring Vikram and Jiiva in the title roles, alongside Tabu, Lara Dutta, Isha Sharvani and Nassar. An altered version with the same title featuring a slightly different cast was simultaneously shot in Hindi.^[1] The plot revolves around the lives of two different men named David, who are about to take a step which is going to change their lives forever. The film was released worldwide on 1 February 2013 to mixed reviews and performed average business at the box office.

Plot

The story is about two Davids living in different parts of India whose lives eventually come together in a twist of events.

Mumbai, 1999: 19-year-old David (Jiiva) is an amateur guitarist born into a family of lower-middle class Christians in a poor colony in Mumbai. He is a happy go lucky teenager who dreams of becoming a professional musician and sending his sister, Susannah (Sheetal Menon) off to Dubai to pursue her dreams. Their father, Noel (Nassar), a Protestant priest rallies the locals to do charity work for those in need. A Hindu fanatic politician, Malati Tai (Rohini Hattangadi), finds out about this and makes it appear as if David's father is converting poor people to Christianity in return for money. She attacks David's colony with the help of gangsters and humiliates Noel by blackening his face in front of the media. Traumatized by this, the priest starts to lose his mind. An angry David is then easily persuaded by a political activist to assassinate Malati at a rally to seek vengeance. However, the plan is foiled when the activist himself kills tries to assassinate Malati by shooting her.

Goa, 2010: 30-year-old David (Vikram) is an alcoholic fisherman living in the small fishing village of Betul in Goa. He falls in love with the deaf and mute Roma (Isha Sharvani) – the only hitch is that she is engaged to be married to his best friend Peter (Nishan Nanaiah) in 10 days. When he finds out Peter does not really love her but is only marrying her for her wealthy father's boat which he will receive as dowry, David is coaxed by his friend, Frenny (Tabu) to stop the wedding. However, David comes to realise that his intentions might not be sincere as both his mother and the priest who tries to help him stop the wedding become involved in separate accidents and are hospitalized. On the day of the wedding, David plans to profess his love for Roma until Peter reveals that he actually sincerely loves her and was only lying that he was marrying her for the dowry out of fear he would be teased. David decides not to stop the wedding.

Gradually, it is revealed that both Davids are connected somehow in the turn of events. Witnessing the Malati's attempted assassination makes the Mumbai David realise what he almost became had he been the one to do the assassination. He then moves to Goa and becomes a priest like his father. In 2010, he is the priest that marries off Peter to Roma. Realising that the Goan David would have spoken out against the wedding, he praises the Goan David for not doing so after the ceremony.

Cast

Production

Development

Bejoy Nambiar announced in December 2011 that he would make a Hindi film titled David, a gangster-comedy, and signed on Vikram to play a protagonist in the film. The pair had previously worked together in Mani Ratnam's Raavan and Raavanan, in which Nambiar had been an assistant director.^[2] Sanjeev Lamba of Reliance, the film's producer, then noted that the film had undergone changes and would be made a bilingual in Tamil and Hindi, with a third dubbed version in Telugu. In January 2012, the producers signed Tabu and Isha Sharvani to play lead female roles in the film, with reports that Isha would be paired opposite Vikram.^[3] In April 2012, Jiiva confirmed that he joined the film to appear as the second protagonist, announcing that Vikram would be a part of both versions.^[4] Jiiva would be playing a rock band star in the film who hails from Bandra, Mumbai.^[5]

The Tamil version would simultaneously show tracks of two people named David with Vikram’s storytaking place in Goa, while Jiiva's portion happens in Mumbai. A third story, featuring Neil Nitin Mukesh that was shot for the Hindi version, was planned to be retained for the Tamil version as well, but was eventually scrapped.^[6]

Filming

Scenes involving Vikram were filmed out first and were canned in locations which were meant to show a Goan backdrop. The team thus shot scenes featuring Vikram and Isha Sharvani there in late February 2012, before moving to Kuttanad.^[7] Mangalore beach was designed to replicate the beaches of Goa and a song featuring Remo Fernandes was also shot in February.^[8] Ratnavelu revealed that scenes were also canned in Kapu, Karnataka disguising Goa and that Vikram finished his portions for the film by March 2012.^[9] Nishan, a Mumbai-based actor who had appeared in Malayalam language films, was also selected to play a role in the segment,^[10] while actress Rubi Chakravarti was also roped in to play Vikram's mother in the film after Bejoy Nambiar approached for a role written with her in mind.^[11] Prahlad Kakkar, a noted ad-maker, was convinced by Nambiar to make his debut in film by appearing in the role of a priest and consequently shot his scenes in Mangalore.^[12]

The scenes of the character playing a musician Jiiva, was the second segment to be shot with Sejal Shah roped in as cinematographer. Lara Dutta plays an extended cameo role as a mother, whose child is tutored by Jiiva's character. Singer Shweta Pandit also shot for the film in both languages making her debut as an actress, while Nassar was roped in to appear in the Tamil version of the film.^[13] Manish Jha, director of the 2003 film Matrubhoomi, was signed on to act in another pivotal role in the segment with Nambiar noting "he was physically perfect for the part". Actor-director Satish Kaushik also shot for this portion of the film, portraying one of David's neighbours.^[14]

Marketing

Bejoy Nambiar planned an innovative strategy to release the first look of the film on sites such as Twitter and YouTube.^[15] The trailer of both versions were received very positively all over.

Soundtrack

David's ensemble soundtrack comprises nine tracks by various artists including one remix by Dub Sharma. Bramfatura, Anirudh Ravichander, Maatibaani and Modern Mafia composed each one song, while Prashant Pillai and Remo Fernandes contributed two tracks each. The album was released on 3 January 2013. Musicperk.com rated the album 8/10 quoting "A Killer Soundtrack ! Trendsetting !".^[16]

All lyrics written by Mohan Rajan, except where noted. 

Haricharan Pudipeddi from Nowrunning.com gave 3.5/5 and said "One thing common between any A. R. Rahman's soundtrack and this album is that it takes time for the listener to understand and appreciate the music. It's very unlikely that one may like it instantly"^[17] IBNLive said that "the soundtrack boasts of trendsetting music"^[18] Behindwoods rated 3.5 stars out of 5 by saying "David isn’t just a great soundtrack, it’s destined to be a trend-setter."^[19]

Critical Reception

Professional reviews
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rediff
OneIndia
Indiaglitz
Tikkview
Bharatstudent
Behindwoods

David received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Kirthi Jeyakumar of Rediff.com called the film "a masterpiece" and gave 4/5.^[20] Critic Shanmugan of OneIndia quoted "Director Bejoy Nambiar has brilliantly come out with two distinct characters" and adding their verdict as "David is a worth watching film." and gave the movie a rating of 3.5/5^[21] Subha J Rao of The Hindu stated "Watch if you love a film that is not packed with action. This one flows by languidly, chronicling inner journeys."^[22] Indiaglitz rated the movie 3.25/5 by saying "David is twin story induced in a single film with all elements making it a worthy watch."^[23] tikkview.com gives 3.2/5.0 and their review says that "Overall David comeup with a two good stories. Main draw back of David is its too slow and weak script."^[24] Bharatstudent.com reviewed "Overall, this is a film could have been a lot better had the sequences been proper.", "Technically well made and an interesting plot, can be watched" and gave 3/5.^[25] Emirates247 criticized the movie for the dubbed feeling, but added "Despite its many downfalls and a rather unbefitting end, ‘David’ is a brave movie that must be endorsed."^[26] Behindwoods review team noted the film was "A different attempt, backed by some good performances by lead actors, but ends up lacking nativity and pace." and gave it 2.5/5^[27]

See also

• David (2013 Hindi film)

References

19. ^ David Movie Gears Up Directed by Bijoy Nambiar sulekha.com, January 24, 2013