Roudram does exactly what its expected to do. I’ve watched Ranji Panicker’s Commissioner a couple ‘o dozen times, same with King and even Bharat Chandran about six times in the past year. Have no regrets, will watch them again. I like this genre of movies with fast editing, better action scenes, little political satire to go with and a lot of soundbytes. And no songs, no suspense (cmon you know every dialogue by heart), no poignant scenes,- nothing to make one uncomfortable. I know its anti-art, but a better escapism compared to all ‘Flash’y ‘College Kumarans’. Its a definite watch.
Story:
Roudram is another Police movie from Ranji Panicker which falls into the same groove as BharatChandran IPS. Instead of the malabar land mafia in BharatChandran IPS, here its the narco guys in the Cochin belt. Mammooty plays Narendran (Nari, beast, animal, naradhaman), an assistant commissioner of police who like all Ranji’s charaters is ‘just’ reinstated after a string of suspensions. The AC is of the fiery type, like straight out of Inspector Balaram without the expletives of course. Being an AC he fights a two front battle against both the official villains (they sell Ganja, do you believe this?) and the system (people like SP, IG, DGP and Chief Minister). Finally he kills all the villains, because the law in all its majesty does not seek vengeance. But Men do…and He did. WTF.
Good:
1. Character portrayals: Because there isn’t much else in the movie, Ranji relies heavily on character portrayal. He gives ample time and carefully crafted instances for his characters to develop. Its not a Mohanlalish movie built around one character, and even the villains develop into characters we remember.
Vijayaraghavan’s mafia patriarch( smells a bit like Ranji’s classic Cheradi Kariya from Ekalavyan), Rajan P Dev’s IG (similar to Soman’s character from Commisioner), Lalu Alex’s nonsense SP and even Shammi Thilakan’s small role are carefully crafted. Together they don’t make sense, but it is atleast believable. Nowhere near Ranji’s classics like Swami Amoorthananda (Ekalavyan), Shekaran(Pathrom) or David Sabhapathy (Pathrom – my all time classic corrupt policeman).
2. Saikumar: This guy rocks! They say his father Kottarakara Sreedharan Nair was malayalam’s best villain ever, but the son surpasses him, movie after movie. The ease and versatility he brings into villain characters which could otherwise fall flat is impressive, kind of diversity in evil. Saikumar’s Sethu in the movie is one suave villain, a menacing evil guy in the likes of Hydarali (BC IPS) and Medayil Devarajan (Sivam). We have to look out for this guy.
3. Political Satire: Ranji Panicker has his fingers right in the nerve centers of Kerala Politics. He sees the bottom lines despite the headlines. Mammooty’s final dialogue to the Chief Minister (fancy dress of VS Achuthanandan – caution no resemblance to any person dead) hits right at the heart of the Media Syndicate (if there is one). It sees behind headlines, calls VS – a communist but a renegade. And the dialogues are a blast. There is a 5 minute dialogue before the interval – watch out for that.
Bad:
1. Feels like a Cochin based remake of BharatChandran IPS. Ranji Panicker is very repetitive. Analyze this,
Bharat Chandran IPS
1st villain – Saikumar
2nd villain – Vijayaraghavan
Good guys – Lalu Alex, Rajan P Dev, Hero
Have the vamps around the villain worked in a Call Center before – YES
Roudram
1st villain – Saikumar
2nd villain – Vijayaraghavan
Good guys – Lalu Alex, Rajan P Dev, Hero
Have the vamps around the villain worked in a Call Center before – YES
Hope his third movie is not a remake.
Verdict: Deserves an Average hit. But reactions after watching Mohanlal’s “College Kumaran” suggest Roudram will have to settle for a Super Hit. Its a fast paced movie with a lot of noise and ending up meaning nothing. Like our lives. Call it a Hit!
P.S: I was impressed with Ranji’s take on VS. Thought he was intelligent to see through the media sabotage. But as per Sindu Sooryakumar, seems Ranji Panicker is a dear friend of Faris Aboobakker who is a dear friend of you know who! This is unconfirmed news, but as much as Talkies hates renegades it hates PIMPS.
I watched this film yesterday. There is nothing new in this film. We can rate it as just ‘Not Bad’. Thats all. Only thing different is the ‘Man’ly presence of Mammooty. His charectrisation is excellent. Also, remarkable performance by Sai Kumar and Vijayaraghavan even though we had seen these charecters 15 years back in ‘Ekalavyan’ – The actual trend setter!!!
Still can’t say that this will turn to another hit like King or Commisioner. But will go for some 50+ days.
Yeah! Mamukka was good, but that is often taken for granted 🙂
please review about the film from a neutral man’s point of view. from your words its clear that u r just a mammootty fan who hates Mohanlal films. As a neautral fan of mal films i didn’t like Roudram nor College Kumaran..both are far below average. Roudram is the same old story with a weaker script than earlier similar films.
2008 is a bad year for Mohanlal fans 🙂
I’m a Dileep fan, was a Jayaram fan before!
Watch out for guys like Ajith, who are Mohanlal fans. When ever a Mohanlal movie flops, they will somehow make a Mammootty movie fail by mouth-to-mouth publicity. This happened at the time of Pothenvava, when Photographer failed. Read the words, “both Roudran and College Kumaran are below avergage”. He is tying Rowdrum down to the succumbing College Kumaran..
Vela njangalodu venta mone Ajithe….. Vittu pidi.
Quote:
“I’m a Dileep fan, was a Jayaram fan before! ”
Bvn , Thats Hilarious 🙂
Alpha,
long time, thanks man 🙂
Are you saying Roudram is a good movie? its a fact that Roudram is collecting more than collegekumaran, but the movie is crap. and how do you know i spread bad publicity for mammootty movies? do u know me persnally?? i don’t like stars, i like only good films. I liked only Calcutta news, Kadhaparayumbol and Cycle this year. p.s i have’nt seen Boot..
Ajith,
think JP shud reply to that. But from what I feel, he doesn’t know you personally. And nice to know you like good films, I wish everybody was like that.
Guys,
As I am working abroad, I am so lucky to see these movies early. I have seen both Photographer & Pottan bava. photographer, honestly, I totally confused in Lal’s double role. The way they arranged screen play is much more difficult to understand. now pothan bava, Mammotty did well as a real Pothan! there is no scenes in that movie, to pull out Mammotty’s caliber. as he is real handsome hunk, in all movies, directors present him as a glamour model. it wont help him much. in ‘Roudram’ mammotty did well as usual in uniform. no body can beat his role as an iron made police officer. ( kerala police must be envy on him, as he dont have a bulged tummy!) But guys, what was the role of Lalu Alex in that movie? a jocker? he offered money to pay hospital bills – that was his single serious appearence in whole movie. A movie must be a combination of all characters. it should not be an one man show.
Jai Hind
John,
this is how I see it, though I don’t understand why they need to have the same team, see Bad point 1.
Lalu, Rajan p Dev, Sai etc are high priced actors who add to the richness of a movie. thats what big tickets like Marikar and Adarsh movies give. Lalu plays an easy go lucky cop, some role, but imagine a new artist there.
Roudram really sucks!it is the same old stories in new bottle.cant get a good script?go watch some hollywood action thrillers like saw,max payne,saw 2,casino royale,mission impossible 1,2 and others.Dear director-dont spit on the audience.