The Terrorist is an Indian Tamil-language film directed by Santosh Sivan. The film portrays a period in the life of a 19-year-old woman, Malli, sent to assassinate a leader in South Asia through a suicide bombing. It stars Ayesha Dharker. The film was shot in 15 days, with natural lighting, on a shoestring budget of ₹25 lakh (worth ₹2.2 crore in 2021 prices).
The film won a number of awards at international film festivals. Actor John Malkovich first saw the film at the 1998 Cairo International Film Festival and subsequently adopted the film as a kind of post-facto executive producer. Critic Roger Ebert has included the film in his series of "Great Movies" reviews.
Plot The movie focuses on a 19-year-old woman named Malli (based on Kalaivani Rajaratnam), who joined a terrorist organisation at a very young age after her brother was killed in the cause. She volunteers herself to become a suicide bomber in an assassination mission. As the plot moves forward, she discovers the importance of human life, after realising she is pregnant. This causes Malli to question her determination to complete the mission.
Cast
Inspiration While campaigning in the 1991 Indian general election, former prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female suicide bomber, Kalaivani Rajaratnam. Rajaratnam was affiliated with the Black Tigers, a cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Film critic Roger Ebert noted that Santosh Sivan "was inspired by the assassination of the Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. But in the movie, no country is identified, no name is attached to her target, and no ideology or religion is attached to her movement."
Reception Ebert concludes his review with the following line: "Every time I see the film, I feel a great sadness, that a human imagination could be so limited that it sees its own extinction as a victory." According to Ebert, it was a film ‘scripted by the camera’.A.O., Scott. "The Terrorist (1998)" New York Times. (2011)
Says Sivan: "One day I got a call from Samuel Lee Jackson who was interested to cast the heroine of The Terrorist, Ayesha, in a Hollywood film."
The reissued film's titles read "John Malkovich Presents" after Malkovich took a liking for the film.
Awards Won 1998 - National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil - The Terrorist 1998 - National Film Award for Best Editing - The Terrorist 1998 - Cairo International Film Festival- Best Director - Santosh Sivan 1998 - Cairo International Film Festival- Golden Pyramid For Best film - The Terrorist 1998 - Cairo International Film Festival- Best Artistic Contribution by an Actress - Ayesha Dharker 1998 - Sundance Film Festival - Best Film - The Terrorist 1998 - Toronto International Film Festival - Emerging Master - Santosh Sivan 1999 - Cinemanila International Film Festival - Grand Jury Prize - Santosh Sivan 1999 - Cinemanila International Film Festival - Lino Brocka Award for Best Film - Santosh Sivan 2000 - Ale Kino International Young Audience Film Festival - Poznan Goat for Best Director - Santosh Sivan 2000 - Sarajevo Film Festival - Panorama Jury Prize for Honorable Mention - Santosh Sivan
Nominated 1998 - National Film Award for Best Actress - Best Actress - Ayesha Dharker 2001 - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Further reading Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Robert Pape, Random House (24 May 2005), Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History, An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2010. 624. Print.
See also Rajiv Gandhi assassination in popular culture
Footnotes Santosh Sivan - John Malkovich Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History, An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2010. 624. Print.
References
External links Official Website
Santosh Sivan on low budget filmmaking How John Malkovich God-Fathered Sivan's The Terrorist Interim Report of the Jain Commission of Inquiry into the Assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi Global nod for Malayalam director Santosh Sivan