Big B (short form of Big Brother) is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language neo-noir action thriller film co-written and directed by Amal Neerad. It stars Mammootty in the title role, alongside an ensemble cast including Manoj K. Jayan, Bala, Sumit Naval, Mamtha Mohandas, Nafisa Ali, Pasupathy, Lena, Maniyanpilla Raju, Shereveer Vakil, Vinayakan, Innocent and Vijayaraghavan in supporting roles. The cinematography was done by Sameer Thahir, while the soundtrack and background score were composed by Alphonse Joseph and Gopi Sundar.
Inspired from the 2005 Hollywood film Four Brothers, Big B is considered as a pathbreaking film in the history of Malayalam cinema. Big B introduced a new style of filmmaking and has later attained a huge cult following.
Plot
Mary John Kurishingal gets killed under circumstances, where her adopted sons arrive for her funeral: Bilal John Kurishingal- a gangster, Eddy John kurishingal- a hotel owner, Murugan John Kurishingal – an action choreographer in film industry and Bijo- a student. The brothers take it upon themselves to unearth the mystery behind Mary's murder. Murugan is in love with Rimy, the daughter of Tommy Parekkadan, a happy-go-drunkard, who is against their relationship. Bilal starts meeting his old friends and contacts in the Kochi underworld to receive information about the killers.
They piece the evidence together and find out that the murder was committed by two professional assassins from Mumbai. ACP Balaji Shakthivel and CI George are put in charge of Mary's murder case, where they begin the investigation, but cannot fetch any evidence to prove anything related. They soon find out that the murder was one of the many meticulously planned operations, which are aimed to check Mary's intrusions into unlawful exporting of children from Kochi. The unlawful operations are actually handled by Mayor and a notorious gangster named Sayippu Tony.
Meanwhile, Bilal makes Tommy accept the relationship between Murugan and Rimy. One night, Bijo gets killed by Tony's henchmen. However, Bilal shoots one of the henchmen and learns that Tony is the brain behind the series of crimes. Later, Tony kills Shakthivel and warns the Mayor to obey his instructions. Bilal orders Eddy and Murugan to talk to Tony for knowing his demands. One of Tony's henchman named Pandi Asi joins Bilal and his brothers as he seeks vengeance on Tony, where they also become successful in keeping George (who was Tony's sidekick) on their side. Bilal threatens Mayor that he will expose his corruptive plans to the whole media, which causes the Mayor to shoot himself.
George files this as a suicide in order to save Bilal from the case. Eddy and Murugan are called up to an island by Tony and his henchmen. Tony arrives and opens up to Eddy about his plans to kill Bilal and the brothers, but Tony learns that his henchmen were bribed and are now against him. Asi reveals his grudge against Tony, where Bilal arrives at the spot and kills Tony after a long fight. Tony is buried under the ditch by his men. After their mission, Eddy lives a happy and peaceful life with his family. Murugan spends time cheering with Rimy, while Bilal is seen helping the poor kids of their colony.
Cast
Mammootty as Bilal John Kurishingal
Manoj K Jayan as Eddy John Kurishingal
Bala as Murugan John Kurishingal
Sumit Naval as Bijo John Kurishingal
Shereveer Vakil as Sayip Tony
Pasupathy as ACP Balaji Sakthivel IPS
Vijayaraghavan as CI George
Innocent as Tommy Parekkadan, Rimi's Father
Mamta Mohandas as Rimi Tommy, Murugan's love interest
Lena as Celina, Eddy's wife
Nafisa Ali as Mary John Kurishingal
Maniyanpilla Raju as Dr. Venu
Manasa as Bijo's love interest and Venu's daughter
Ramesh Varma as Mayor
Vinayakan as Pandi Asi, Tony's henchman
Santhosh Jogi as Felix, Local goon and Tony's henchman
Sreejith Ravi as Anthakaram Babu
Paris Laxmi as Dancer in the song "Oh January" Jinu Joseph as Killer 1 OG Sunil as Killer 2 Jaffar Idukki as Dog Shamsu V. K. Sreeraman as Advocate Master Govind Nambiar as Abu
Release
Big B was released on 13 April 2007. Amal Nareed announced a sequel to the film titled Bilal in 2017. It was dubbed in Tamil as Manik Baasha.
Reception
Big B received critical acclaim for its cinematography and making, along with the use of few dialogues, dark color tone and extensive use of slow-motion and musical score, which redefines that an age-old mass action drama can be converted with a unique and fresh style. Mammootty gained lot of appraisal for his portrayal as Bilal, which remains one his most memorable characters.
