Sudeep heaps praise on Malayalam survival thriller 2018, says film is winning hearts of Kannada audiences

Taking to Twitter, Sudeep wrote, “Humanity trumped during the 2018 floods in Kerala. This courageous true story is spectacularly clinched on the silver screen to become the biggest blockbuster in the history of the Kerala Film Industry. #2018EveryoneIsAHero is winning the hearts of Kannada audiences. Congrats🥂.”

The Malayalam film’s Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada versions hit theatres on May 26. Following the release of the dubbed versions, Telugu celebrities like Naga Chaitanya and Anand Deverakonda too had praised the film.

Chaitanya, who was last seen in Venkat Prabhu’s Custody, called 2018 a ‘hard-hitting and emotional’ film. “Just watched 2018 in Telugu. Such a beautiful film. Hard-hitting and emotional. Don’t miss it this Friday. Big congrats to Jude Anthany Joseph, Tovino Thomas, Lal sir, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aparna Balamurali, Kunchako Boban, Asif Ali, and Kalaiyarasan… all of you were exceptional in every way. All the best Bunny Vas for the Telugu release,” he wrote on Twitter.

Humanity trumped during the 2018 floods in Kerala.This courageous true story is spectacularly clinched on the silver screen to become the biggest blockbuster in the history of the Kerala Film Industry. #2018EveryoneIsAHero is winning the hearts of kannada audiences.
Congrats🥂

— Kichcha Sudeepa (@KicchaSudeep) June 3, 2023

“2018 is an incredible movie. Post-interval is mind-blowing and some sequences make you wonder how they even shot it. Some sequences are racy, some others are emotional. After the preview, I asked the director, ‘How did you even shoot so many tough sequences? (includes a lot of flooding and water).’ He replied ‘3.5 years of hard work!’ What’s commendable is they achieved a lot of it via practical effects. And even if graphics were used, you can’t point at any sequence and spot CGI on screen. Amazingly crafted and a great watch. Big ups to Bunny Vas sir for bringing this film to the Telugu audience,” actor Anand Deverakonda, the brother of Vijay Deverakonda, said.

While 2018 continues to perform exceptionally well in theatres, the film’s makers have made the decision to release it on an OTT platform. Starting from June 7, audiences will be able to stream the movie on SonyLIV, despite a section of the film’s fans expressing disappointment over the makers’ decision to go ahead with the OTT release while it is minting good money.

In its review of 2018, The Indian Express stated that the film, as the title suggests, was a homage to the hundreds of thousands of people who banded together in the face of extreme rainfall and helped one another during a time of great darkness, rather than being the documentation of actual events that unfolded in the weeks that led up to mid-August that year.

The movie stars Tovino Thomas, Kunchako Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aparna Balamurali, Kalaiyarasan, Indrans, Sudheesh, Aju Varghese, Thanvi Ram, and Gauthami Nair.