David is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film directed by Bejoy Nambiar, starring Vikram and Jiiva in the title roles, alongside Tabu, Lara Dutta, Isha Sharvani and Nassar. 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 positive reviews but did not perform well at the box office.
The story is about two Davids living in different parts of India whose lives eventually come together in a twist of events.
In 1999, 19-year-old David 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, Susan off to Dubai to pursue her dreams. Their father, Noel, a Protestant priest rallies the locals to do charity work for those in need. A Hindu fanatic politician, Malathi Tai, 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 Malathi at a rally to seek vengeance. However, when David tries to kill Malathi by a knife, the political activist shouts by David's name and shoots Malathi by a Pistol, and bullet attacks her.
In 2010, 30-year-old David is an alcoholic fisherman living in the small fishing village of Betul in Goa. He falls in love with the deaf and mute Roma – the only hitch is that she is engaged to be married to his best friend Peter 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 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 Malathi'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.
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.[1] 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. Vikram was not informed that the film was being made in Tamil.[2] In April 2012, Jiiva was confirmed to appear.[3] He would be playing a rock band star in the film who hails from Bandra, Mumbai.[4]
The Tamil version would simultaneously show tracks of two people named David with Vikram's story taking 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. It was eventually scrapped due to Neil Nitin Mukesh's lack of fluency in Tamil.[5]
Filming
The scenes of the guitarist David was shot with Sejal Shah roped in as the 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 recruited to appear in both versions of the film.[6] Actor-director Satish Kaushik also shot for this portion of the film, portraying one of David's neighbours.[7] Only scenes from Jiiva's segment were reshot for the Tamil version while Vikram's scenes were reused from the Hindi version.[8]
Marketing
Bejoy Nambiar planned an innovative strategy to release the first look of the film on sites such as Twitter and YouTube.[9]
David's ensemble soundtrack comprises nine tracks by various artists which consists of Bramfatura, Anirudh Ravichander, Maatibaani and Modern Mafia composing each one song, while Prashant Pillai and Remo Fernandes contributing two tracks each, and a remix version by Dub Sharma.The track "Kanave Kanave" was released as the first single on 7 December 2012.[citation needed] The full album was released on 21 December 2012, at a launch event held at the renovated Rani Seethai Hall, in attendance of the film cast and crew. The film's audio CD was launched at the event.[10]
Musicperk.com rated the album 8/10 quoting "A trendsetting killer soundtrack!"[11] Haricharan Pudipeddi from Nowrunning.com gave 3.5 out of 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".[12]IBNLive said that "the soundtrack boasts of trendsetting music"[13]Indo-Asian News Service rated the soundtrack 3 out of 5, with the song "Kanave Kanave" as their pick of the album.[14]MusicAloud rated the album 8/10, stating "There is no doubting Bejoy Nambiar's exquisite sense of music. To do that with as many as nine different composers is quite a feat! Respect."[15]Karthik Srinivasan reviewed the soundtrack as "David soundtrack is mighty unconventional for a Tamil film. But where it loses out lyrically, it makes up in audacity and sheer diversity, delivering a vibrant pastiche!"[16]
Reception
Kirthi Jeyakumar of Rediff.com gave David 4 out of 5 stars, and stated "The characters themselves are realistic, and believable. Their emotional struggles and their reactions to the world around them are pictures painted with vibrant shades, rather than the disturbed and dark protagonist that one is wont to consider them to be. Thinking out of the box can sure get one ahead, and Nambiar has proved his prowess with elan."[17] 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."[8] A critic from The Times of India rated the film two out of five stars and wrote that "The movie might be about love, making crucial decisions and the situations that bring people together, but ‘David’ doesn’t conjure up enough magic to inspire us!"[18] A critic from The New Indian Express wrote that "A film that strives to move away from the beaten track, it could have been crafted better".[19] A critic from Emirates 24/7 criticized the film, but added "Despite its many downfalls and a rather unbefitting end, ‘David’ is a brave movie that must be endorsed."[20]
^K, Siddharth (17 January 2013). "David". Musicperk. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
^Pudipeddi, Haricharan (14 January 2013). "David Music Review". Nowrunning.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
