Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded

Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Amal Neerad. It is the sequel of 1987 film Irupatham Noottandu. The film was written by S. N. Swamy and produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the company Aashirvad Cinemas. the film stars Mohanlal in the title role, with an ensemble cast of Suman, Shobana, Bhavana, Sampath Raj, Manoj K. Jayan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Rahul Dev, Nedumudi Venu, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, Vinayakan, Shereveer Vakil, Sumeet Naval, Sona Nair, V.K Sreeraman, Jinu Joseph and Bala in other pivotal roles.

Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded released on 26 March 2009 and mainly received mixed reviews from critics and audience with praise towards its direction, music and cast performances, but criticism directed towards its pace and writing. The film won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography for Dinesh Kumar.

Plot
Sagar alias Jacky is a powerful international smuggler, who is known for solving problems among big gangs. The CM Chandrashekharan's son-in-law Manu is kidnapped and the cops are unable to find a clue. Manu's wife Indu realises that the police have been influenced by her brother Hari who seems to know the kidnappers. Indu decides to call her best friend Jacky to help find Manu. Jacky calls his henchmen all over Kerala for the job, where the gang travels to Goa where Jacky's contact tells him that the kidnappers are the Rosario brothers Michael "Big B" Rosario and David Rosario, who run the most powerful crime syndicate. After considerable difficulties, Jacky and his gang locate the night club where Manu is held hostage and helps him to escape.

This audacity does not sit well with the Rosarios who swear vengeance against Jacky. They kidnap one of Jacky's favourite gangsters and demand ransom. Jacky responds by kidnapping two of the three Rosario brothers and demands that his man be released. Realising that they would never be able to defeat Jacky in a heads-on battle, the Rosario brothers make a deal with Manu and Hari to deliver Sagar's current location. The Rosarios then try to assassinate Jacky, but to no avail. Frustrated with repeated defeats, the Rosarios approach Jacky's former partner and rival Nanthakrishna Naina, who supplies them with an assassin named Sheikh Imran, who is also an internationally infamous assassin.

Imran is asked to assassinate Manu so that the Jacky can be framed for the murder, but the Rosarios's plan backfires as Indu provides witness that Jacky was not responsible for her husband's murder. Imran is then asked to assassinate Jacky, where he manages to kill Jacky's bodyguard, but Jacky escapes. Jacky hunts down Imran and kills him. The Rosarios kidnap Jacky's friend Arati, a news reporter, where Jacky is asked to arrive at a place to work out a deal. When Jacky reaches there, he finds Arati dead. Enraged, Jacky goes to the Rosarios' club and goes on a killing spree, where he later leaves to Dubai where Naina is hiding on a yacht. With the help of some gangsters, Jacky plants explosives on the yacht and blows it up. Jacky informs Indu that Manu's death has been avenged.

Cast

 * Mohanlal as Vidyasagar / Jacky
 * Suman as Nanthakrishna Naina
 * Shobana as Indu, Manu's wife
 * Bhavana as Arati Menon
 * Sampath Raj as Michael "Big" Rosario
 * Manoj K Jayan as Manu
 * Jinu Joseph as Ferad
 * Jagathy Sreekumar as Ashok Kumar
 * Nedumudi Venu as CM Chandrashekharan
 * K. B. Ganesh Kumar as Hari
 * Bala as SP Hamid
 * Shereveer Vakil as David Rosario
 * Sona Nair as Deepa Hari's wife
 * V. K. Sreeraman as CM's secretary
 * Rahul Dev as Sheikh Imran
 * Vinayakan as Style
 * Anu Anand as Joseph
 * Sumeet Naval as Azar
 * Prayaga Martin as Amina, Azar's sister
 * Vanitha Krishnachandran as Azar's mother
 * Sudhi Koppa as Babu, Attacker
 * Pranav Mohanlal as a youngster (cameo appearance)
 * Jyothirmayi as a beach dancer (cameo appearance)
 * Ranjith Velayudhan as Rosario brother

Production
Trisha was approached for the female lead but she could not sign it due to her busy schedule. Later Bhavana replaced her. While writer S. N. Swami was working on the script of Baba Kalyani, its producer Antony Perumbavoor approached him with the idea of remaking Swami's earlier work Irupatham Noottandu. Swami contemplated the possibilities for a sequel. In the final events of the first film, the villain Shekharankutty died and Sagar is in Jail. Antony asked him after two years, and Swami suggested taking only the character Sagar and making a completely new film, neither a continuation nor a sequel. In Irupatham Noottandu, Sagar was an introvert who rarely smiles. Now, although the character has aged he is doing something that is not socially accepted.

Music
The film's soundtrack features six songs composed by Gopi Sundar, with lyrics by Gopi Sundar, Jofy Tharakan, Santhosh Varma and Riya Joy. The soundtrack was released by Manorama Music.

Reception
Unni R Nair of The Indian Express wrote that the film's "technical brilliance wasted on an utterly nonsensical script." Sify wrote "Sagar alias Jacky Reloaded is not an unwatchable movie, but what could have been a fearless, edgy action thriller is ultimately only a half-decent enterprise because it lacks a strong story." Paresh. C. Palicha of Rediff wrote "Amal Neerad's second directorial venture after Big B is just an average fare, which is a disappointment considering the high expectations."

Accolades

 * Kerala State Film Awards-Best Choreography - Dinesh Kumar