Gulumaal: The Escape

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gulumaal: The Escape

Gulumaal: The Escape is a 2009 Malayalam-language comedy-thriller directed by V. K. Prakash. It’s an unofficial remake inspired by the Argentine film Nine Queens and was later echoed in Telugu cinema as All the Best (2012). The movie stars Kunchacko Boban and Jayasurya, with music by Manu Ramesan.

Plot
Jerry Mathews is a clever con man whose scams strain his family. He plans a heist to steal his sister’s family business. While plotting a petrol-station scam, he helps Ravi Varma, an escaped convict who also works with con artists. Ravi persuades Jerry to pull off a big fraud using a forged painting to swindle a wealthy non-resident Indian (NRI) out of money. The scheme creates tension as Ravi and Jerry compete to outdo each other. Jerry’s sister Saira works at the NRI’s hotel, and both Ravi and the NRI fall for her.

Soon, Ravi and Jerry lose the painting and decide to pool their money to buy the original. They sell it to the NRI for 3 crore rupees. Their father finds out and tells Saira, driving a wedge between the siblings. When they discover the check they were given is fake, they fight and part ways. Jerry reunites with Bose, a master con man, who guides him to the wedding of Ravi and Saira. There, Jerry learns that the whole sequence of events, starting from the gas station incident, was a staged plan to exact gentle revenge for Ravi’s father’s imprisonment. Jerry asks for forgiveness and leaves the wedding, quietly contemplating another scam as the credits roll.

Cast (selected)
- Kunchacko Boban as Ravi Varma
- Jayasurya as Jerry Mathews
- Suraj Venjaramoodu as SI Shambhu
- Mithra Kurian as Saira Mathews
- Nedumudi Venu as Prabhakara Varma
- Salim Kumar as Bhai
- Bijukuttan as Constable Vasu
- Devan as NRI
- Maniyanpilla Raju as Rangaswami / Ahammedkutty
- Others include Poojappura Radhakrishnan, Gita Nair, Abhirami Suresh, Roslin, Valsala Menon, Samvrutha Sunil (cameo), Siddique (cameo), and more.

Soundtrack
The film’s soundtrack has four songs, all composed by Manu Ramesan with lyrics by S. Ramesan Nair and Saimon Palvaay:
- Gulumaal Gulumaal — sung by Anoop Sankar, Ajay Sathyan, Roshan
- Thaam Tharikida — sung by G. Venugopal, Vidhu Prathap, Anoop Sankar
- Vennila — sung by P. Jayachandran
- Kilu Kilukkam — sung by Sithara Krishnakumar

Reception
- Gulumaal: The Escape drew comparisons to Nine Queens. Director V. K. Prakash said he appreciated the Nine Queens connection only after choosing the subject.
- Sify praised the film’s unconventional narrative and suggested that tighter scripting, better music, and shorter length could have made it even more entertaining.
- Indiaglitz called it stylish and entertaining, noting strong one-liners, but criticized the song vocals.
- Nowrunning gave it 2.5/5, praising the lead actors’ camaraderie but criticizing the overall song picturization and sound, and noting it as a direct lift of Nine Queens.

Box office
The film was a commercial success.

Notes
- Gulumaal: The Escape is an unofficial adaptation of the Argentine thriller Nine Queens.
- It inspired a Telugu remake titled All the Best (2012).