July 4 (film)

The story begins in a jail, where Ramachandran, a very agile police officer, takes charge as the superintendent. He is given a brief about the jail and the prisoners by Narayanan Potti, who is the jailer. One day Ramachandran comes face to face with Gokuldas, one of the prisoners who is to be released soon, on July 4. It is then revealed that the very reason Ramachandran had taken charge of the jail is to meet Gokuldas, with whom he has some old scores to settle. From here unfurls, in flashback sequences, the story of Gokuldas.

As a child, Gokuldas had no one but his mother to call his own; he lived in a street and worked in a cycle shop. When he is picked up by the police along with other boys from the street for a crime he has not committed, things go berserk in his life. His mother comes to get him released but is raped and killed by the police officer in charge of the station. When Das comes out, he and friends take revenge on the police officer by strangling him. They then flee to Mumbai, where they become criminals, constantly clashing with the cops. Things get too hot for them when a daring police officer Mohammed Usman takes charge, and they break up, with Das taking refuge in a colony at the house of Gopalan, who a kindhearted taxi driver. He gets close with Gopalan and his family, but soon the cops reach there, too. In the tussle that follows, Gopalan is killed. Das, who escapes from the cops, is filled with remorse. Later, he takes Gopalan's family and leaves Mumbai, deciding to lead a good life. He works as a taxi driver at the Coimbatore airport. One day he meets a young girl, Sreepriya, at the airport. She later travels in his car. When Sreepriya urges him to speed, offering him more money, he obliges, only to hit an auto rickshaw carrying schoolchildren. Sreepriya catches another taxi and continues on her way. Das later turns up at Sreepriya's house asking for compensation. Viswanathan, her father, offers him a job as a driver, and things take a new turn.

After Sripriya's engagement with Ramachandran's son Suresh, Das takes Sreepriya for an examination in Coimbatore, but on the way back, they are chased by a gang of three goons, who tried to break into her bedroom the previous night. They hide in an old house in the forest. When Das meets the goons, it is revealed in a flashback that they were his friends Danny, Williams and Firoz, who helped him to kill the inspector. As they are forced to spend a few days together, they develop a liking for each other and eventually in love. For saving her both from his friends, he jumps from the cliff holding her. They are saved by a Malayali named Shakthi in the forest. When both gain consciousness, Das reveals that he did all these things to fulfill a contract from Ramachandran as a retribution to him for a huge sum, which was borrowed for an operation of children of Gopalan as the auto rickshaw hit by his car was carrying a group of school kids in which they were included. But it is unknown to him for what purpose Ramachandran gave him quotation to kill, which he was not expected. It is later revealed that Viswanathan is the stepfather of Priya as her mother married him, who is a widower, and has a daughter from his first marriage, Shilpa.

In the end, on July 4, Das kills Ramachandran for avenging Vijayalaksmi and Firoz's death, and frames Viswanathan for it. Viswanathan is arrested, and Das gets released from prison and unites with Sreepriya and his friends.

The movie features soundtrack composed by Ouseppachan, with lyrics penned by Shibu Chakravarthy.

Some films in which Dileep was cast in the lead role and released on 4 July were big successes. The list includes Ee Parakkum Thalika (2001), Meesha Madhavan (2002), C.I.D. Moosa (2003), Pandippada (2005), and Chess (2006).^[1] This film too was planned to release on 4 July 2007 and had to change to 5 July 2007, due to a court order on a complaint that the story was copied without permissions from the author.

A critic from Sify wrote that "On the whole July 4 is a 2 hours 15 minute rollercoaster ride with some thrilling moments".^[2] A critic from Nowrunning wrote that "July 4 can be termed a well-made but average kind of film that won't come close to being a must-see".^[3] On the contrary, a critic from Rediff.com rated the film two out of five stars and wrote that "Dileep in partnership with veteran director Joshiy and his trusted writers has tried to make a please-all fare, which on the contrary pleases none".^[4]

The film became a disaster in box office.^[5]

• July 4 at IMDb