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.
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
Watch Movie Here
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