Watching 7:11 made us wonder why, as a nation obsessed with cinema, we don’t see more such content. 7:11 has issues with its length, loopholes, and finesse. But its heart and hard work are in the right place. There has been a dedication with which the story has been brought to life, and for that alone, this deserves a watch. It is a matter of understanding that there really isn’t much stopping us from creating groundbreaking content, other than ourselves. But on an actual critical note, we believe that some of the details of the film could have been better presented, especially those of the financial scam. Let us go through the recap and ending of 7:11 to better understand it.
Spoiler Alert
What Is The Financial Scam By Basava Punnayya And Rajesh?
Minister Basava Punnayya wants to build a dam in Hamsala Deevi, which would require an entire relocation of the village. He has gotten nearly all the permits for it except two, and he desperately needs them for his plans to go into action. The fact is that the dam is not for the well-being of the area but is a cover for the minister’s own ambitions. Basava Punnayya is in cahoots with the Aparamitham Rajesh, and together, they have convinced many of the villagers to invest in mutual funds. That money is as good as stolen by them, and once the dam is built and the villagers have nowhere to go, Basava Punnayya will buy the lands in the surrounding areas. Then, he will ask the government for compensation for the losses of the villagers, which he will end up pocketing. It is a money-making scheme under the facade of this dam, and only a few, like Prabhakar and his nephew Ravi, are able to see through it and are actively working to prevent it somehow. As Basava Punnayya scrambles to bribe people to get the last two permits, Ravi and his friends keep stealing the amount so that they can hold the final barricade that prevents imminent disaster. Annoyed at constantly losing money to them, Basava Punnayya decides to proceed with the next step, which is the bankruptcy of the villagers by declaring their money as lost by the mutual funds.
In the meantime, Ravi’s girlfriend, Vimala, is facing trouble at home since her brother, Krishna, wants her to break up with Ravi and get married soon. When she meets Ravi, he assures her that things will be fine and asks her to show her ring to the prospective groom so that he will know to refuse the alliance. On the other hand, Ravi’s uncle and friends are killed by Basava Punnayya as they rush to stop the exchange of money that is going to happen that night. They were tipped off by Basava Punnayya’s accountant, who had always been on their side but was currently being threatened by his boss.
Ravi is quite unaware of what is going on, which is when he spots Vimala’s brother, Satish, running after him as if to beat him up. He doesn’t see the man by his side and thinks that Satish wants to hit him for being with his sister, which is why he makes a run for it and gets into a bus on the road, not knowing that this would end up changing everything.
How Does Ravi End Up In 2024?
What Ravi did not know was that the bus he had gotten into was actually a space shuttle that had time-traveled from 2400 to 1999. They had come looking for a book about the human brain, which they needed to save the planet in 2400. But that book could only be opened by the DNA of the descendant of its writer, and they had been unable to find him in time. As they were leaving, Ravi and Babar (the other man) unknowingly got on their bus or shuttle. Due to the excess weight, the spacecraft’s engines failed, and people from the future were lost to space. They were able to eject Ravi and Babar back to Earth in a pod; however, they landed in Australia in 2024 instead of in Hamsala Deevi in 1999.
Ravi has been taken in by Sarah and her father, Peter Walsh, after risking his life to rescue them from Babar, who turned out to be the murderer of Vimala and a few others. Peter is determined to help Ravi find his roots again, and it is then that he finds the pod on the beach. A few days later, when the pod is accidentally activated, a woman from the future contacts them and gives them all this information. Ravi begs to go back to his town, and in return, he promises to get them the book opened with the DNA of Einstein, who is the descendant of BV Raman, the scientist who wrote the book.
Essentially, Ravi needs to save all his loved ones and his town from turning into a nuclear wasteland. While it is not specifically stated in the 7:11 movie, perhaps Hamsala Deevi turning into a nuclear dump could be the start of how Earth gradually became uninhabitable, and humans had to move to Proxima EV 12. The people from the future agree to help Ravi and tell him that he will be transported back to 2 hours before he leaves Earth, which would be 5:11 PM. He had to do everything at this time, or his heart would stop, and he would die. Ravi agrees to take the risk, and he goes back with the help of the leftover plutonium in the pod.
Does Ravi Give The Book To The Time Travelers?
Needless to say, the moment Ravi comes back to 1999, he first saves Vimala from Babar and then protects his uncle and friends from Basava Punnayya’s goons. His next step is to look for Einstein, and as he desperately sets out to do that, he realizes that there is probably something more important to work on in the limited time he has. He needs to save the people who invested in the Aparamitham Mutual Funds, since all their life’s savings are about to go up in flames. Ravi and his friend go to the mutual funds’ office, and they eavesdrop on Rajesh and his brother-in-law to find out when and where the exchange of money is happening. The brother-in-law is out to do the deed, but Ravi knocks him out and takes his place to do the needful. Once the work is done, as expected, chaos breaks out since Basava Punnayya and Rajesh both think that the other has deceived them. In the confusion that ensues when all of them are together, Ravi is still watching them from behind, and what he sees next shocks him and lets him know exactly how far this deception went. The real villain of the show was Krishna, who had been pretending to be the good guy all along.
Ravi remembered how, in his childhood, Basava Punnayya had come to meet his father to greenlight a project to turn Hamsala Deevi into a nuclear wasteland. Krishna had been there at that time, but he had opposed it. But now that Ravi had been to the future, he knew how Krishna’s life had unfolded after he had left, so he was able to connect the dots of what happened. Ravi also realizes that Babar was hired by Krishna to kill Vimala and Satish so that he could get the entire property. In an accident, all the people at the scene end up shooting each other, and only Krishna is left alive. Ravi kills him while confronting him about everything he did.
Now, the only thing left for Ravi to do is get Einstein’s DNA in the book. At the end of 7:11, with barely a few seconds to spare, Ravi figures out that DNA is not present in the blood, so he uses some of Einstein’s hair to unlock the book with success. Scientifically, blood has DNA, but we won’t argue now. As the bus is about to leave, Ravi manages to get the book to them in time, thus fulfilling his promise and saving his own life along with the future of the village and probably the world.
Final Thoughts
As we said before, 7:11 could have used some finesse, but we absolutely applaud the ability of the writers and the directors to think outside the box. Additionally, you could tell that the writers were having fun with the script, and that often translates into a good time for the audience. 7:11 is one of those movies that should not be missed, just so that we remember what Indian cinema is capable of and so that we stop settling for mediocrity.
