Sainyam

aka The Army 1994 194’ col/scope Malayalam d Joshi pc Evershine Films p S.S.T. Subramanyam, V. Balaram st/lyr Shibu Chakravarthy sc/dial S.N. Swamy c Jayanan Vincent m S.P. Venkatesh lp Mammootty, Mukesh, Mohini, Priya Raman

A nationalist ‘tribute’ to the Indian Air Force, continuing a pan-Indian trend of 90s nationalist melodramas (cf. Roja, 1992; 1942: A Love Story, 1994) often valorizing India’s armed forces while excoriating Muslim separatists. The intensely nationalist Air Force officer Eeshwar (Mammootty) leads an exclusively Malayali unit stationed in politically turbulent Kashmir. He reluctantly offers shelter to the beautiful Lakshmi (Mohini) when she is deserted by her lover. It later emerges that her cruel lover supports the separatist militants and blackmails her into leaking secrets from Eeshwar’s files. Eventually, Eeshwar, with his ‘good’ Muslim colleague, settles both personal and national scores with the timely help of some reformed Kashmiri terrorists who surrender with a speech committing themselves to peace, education, growth and progress.

Film