| New Delhi | |
|---|---|
| File:Newdelhi1987film.jpg New Delhi 100 days poster | |
| Directed by | Joshiy |
| Written by | Dennis Joseph |
| Produced by | Joy Thomas |
| Starring | Mammootty Sumalatha Urvashi |
| Cinematography | Jayanan Vincent |
| Edited by | K. Sankunny |
| Music by | Shyam |
Release date | 24 July 1987 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Budget | INR 29 lakhs |
| Box office | INR 20 crores |
New Delhi is a Malayalam multilingual thriller film directed by Joshiy and starring Mammootty in lead role. It is the biggest hit in the history of Malayalam Cinema. The theme of the movie- the story of avenge followed by series of killings was adapted in many later films. Released on 24 July 1987, the film was a trend setter in Malayalam as well as South Indian film industries. After adjusted for inflation, the film grossed Rs. 20 crores[citation needed], a still unbeaten record in Malayalam film history. The film marked the return of ace actor Mammootty to the superstar position in Malayalam Cinema. This film creates most number of remakes to other languages by same director with same title. The film was remade to Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi. The film is loosely based on Almighty by Irving Wallace.
The plot of the film is based on Almighty by Irving Wallace. G. Krishnamoorthy aka G.K(Mammootty) was a cartoonist and investigative journalist working in New Delhi. Urvashi plays the role of his sister Uma, who is also a journalist. G.K. falls in love with Maria Fernandes (Sumalatha) who is a professional dancer in New Delhi. C. R. Panikkar(Jagannatha Varma) & Shankar (Devan), two political icons book a dance show of Maria on the eve of republic day. They called her to a hotel room where she was brutally raped. G.K. decided to report this sensitive news in his newspaper. But the chief editor instead of congratulating him, informed the villain about his plan. G.K. was arrested by the police that night on fake charges. He was brought to the court where he had to face many false witnesses including Fernandes, Maria's father who claimed nobody did any harm to his daughter. The court punished him by 5 year rigorous imprisonment and verdicted that G.K was mentally unfit and should be kept under mental asylum for one and a half years. G.K. had to face lot of brutalities in the mental asylum and prison. G.K. made Ananthan, Sidhiq and Appu's acquaintance from the jail. He was once selected to be set free from prison as part of republic day but was denied of the chance by Shankar.
Nataraj Vishnu(Thyagarajan) was a murderer who was sentenced to death by the court. G.K., who already had a plan of avenge met Vishnu and offered him help for breaking the jail. After completing the 5 year period, G.K. became free. Maria was all set ready with a new newspaper which she dedicated to G.K.. He arranged every help for Vishnu, Ananthan, Sidhiq and Appu to break the jail. G.K. delayed the issuing of his newspaper even if his newspaper had all facilities and trained journalists including Uma and Suresh (Suresh Gopi), fiancee of Uma. He wanted his newspaper to release only after getting a very sensational news.
G.K. instructed the four membered team to kill C. R. Panikkar. He was electrified and killed, the torturing method G.K. had to face in the mental asylum. The newspaper was printed in the night he got killed itself. The newspaper had a grand reception by the people since this sensational news. G.K. murdered everyone involved in torturing him brutally and reported this in his newspaper before the actual occurrence of the incident. G.K.'s newspaper soon became the leading newspaper in India.
Uma and Suresh had doubts about how the news being published in their newspaper so early by the "unknown" reporter. G.K. instructed the team to kill Suresh who got some evidences and photos about this. G.K. who later came to know about the affair between Uma and Suresh tried to rescue Suresh but couldn't.
The last prey of G.K.'s series of killings was Shankar, who was a central minister then. G.K. as usuall, instructed the team to kill Shankar and he published a news about Minister Shankar's murder. But the team could not cross the tight security and kill him. They all were killed in an encounter with police. G.K. who was all set to release his next day's newspaper was arrested by the police in conspirating the attack on Shankar. Shankar came to the office of G.K. to harass him. G.K. tried the last chance to kill Shankar with his piston but failed in that too. Soon, Maria Fernandes shot Shankar with the piston. The police tried to lock her, but she succeeded in killing him.
The originally decided cast included Mammootty, Sumalatha, Suresh Gopi, Devan and Urvashi. There were many considerable efforts to replace Mammootty, since his star value was totally diminished due to numerous continuos flops including four by Joshi. However, the producer showed confidence on Mammootty and finalised his cast by including B.Thyagarajan, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan and Mohan Jose as the four member team and Jagannatha Varma as the main villain.
The film was scheduled to begin on January 17, 1987 in New Delhi. But due to tight security following the Sikh Riots of 1987, it was postponed to January 29. Thus creating a huge loss to the producer, the filming was begun on that date and was finished after a tight 16-17 days schedule, a comparitively lower time period. The film was completed on February 14.
The film was picturised completely in New Delhi. Many of the portions were shot on Kerala House and on the Delhi Jail.
The release date of the film were changed many times, mainly due to the commercial failures of Mammootty-starrer films. The film was declared to be shelved for time being along with many other Mammootty films including the later blockbuster Thaniyavarthanam. The team of New Delhi then worked on a new project, titled Nair Saab, and planned to release both the films together after atleast an average grossed film of Mammootty. However, the distributor took a big risk to release the film on 24 July 1987.
The film had a very low initial collection from all centres. But in the following days, the film got overwhelming positive reviews from all corners and the performance of Mammootty was regarded as one the best one till then in malayalam movie history. The film grossed INR 20 crores (adjusted for inflation). The total budget of the film was 29 lakhs, but the film got 42 lakhs by sales of rights only. Its the first Malayalam film to get a theatre share of 1 crore. The film was screened in all the main centres for almost a year. The copyright of the film is acquired by Sun Network.
