Ranam

Nirmal Sahadev's Ranam took malayalam movies to the next level on the technical side. The script was not good enough. Prithviraj, Rahman and Nandu did a great job. It is not a must watch for everyone. It's a quality class movie.

First of all i would say every one would not like this film. This is a completely diff film in Hollywood . its like watching an Hollywood film .music has the most important role in this film . I would appreciate director normal for suck a brilliant job he has done

'Ranam' is a technically sound film. Jigme Tenzing captures the ugly, dreary side of the 'American dream' pretty well. The music and background score by Jakes Bejoy is splendid (especially the title track and the 'Ayudhameduda' bits). Frankly, the first half of the film builds up well (with a few nods to Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive' - a movie I honestly did not fancy but apparently, the world loved it. The characters of Adhi (Prithvi), Damodar (Rahman), Bhaskaran (Nandu), and Seema (Isha Talwar) are slowly yet steadily developed. The interval block sets us up for a thrilling second half.

But the film goes downhill from there. Scenes appear contrived and rushed. Even the love-track between Adhi and Seema doesn't come across as too convincing. The 'Damodar' character is said to be a vicious gangster but the intensity is barely felt. Prithvi can pull off characters such as Adhi with ease, as this is his forte - a brooding, straight-faced hunk, with little to zero sense of humour. Nandu, as expected, manages to keep his struggling NRI character grounded and believable.

A gangster-drama cannot always stick to logic but the manner in which the cops take so long to come to conclusions about the death of a particular character is appalling. In fact, the cops do not really have a say in proceedings at all, other than making them look more sophisticated to the audience. There's a party drug at play, there's money-laundering, there's betrayal, and there's a 'master-plan' - it's precisely these gangster-movie elements that do not seem compellingly incorporated.

A few characters also needed better writing. Adhi's backstory is said in flashback vignettes, but we need more than that to connect to his inner struggles. Seema too could have had more emphasis in the screenplay. It is almost as if Nirmal started off his script with an action-heavy crime thriller in mind and midway, decided to turn it to a more character-driven drama. Hence, neither genre particularly came full circle.

Perhaps, it could also be Prithvi's recent choice of moping characters that act as a deterrent from enjoying an experiment like 'Ranam' to the fullest. It is a well-made, almost well-written film that terribly lacks good direction.

I heard people say that this wasn't good so I watched it. And I found it great. It is a good film and you should watch it if you are an action fan. Performances by all actors was great. Prithviraj and Isha Talwar have a good chemistry and both have done their roles very nicely, especially in the emotional scenes. Prithviraj has done great in both action and emotional scenes. Isha has also done very good, I don't know why critics are attacking her performance (maybe the age factor that they are not able to imagine her as mother of a child or what? If so, it is their issue). Nandu and Rahman have done very well. Mathew Arun has done a good job but Celine Joseph falters at places. Ashwin Kumar has done fine. In the scenes with Isha, Shivajith Padmanabhan (Rajan, Seema's husband) falters at a few places and fails to put the force in his dialogues, but Isha's reactions make up for it. Giju John has done a commendable job as the no-nonsense cop and good friend as well. Action and script is great. The only factor that caused the film to not do great at the box office is the hype surrounding it. People put too many expectations in the film, and despite all the actors and crew putting their best, they could not fulfill the wishes of the audience. They felt that Prithviraj had not put enough effort. Half the people think Isha is a miscast age-wise (actors play roles double their age, so as far as performance is good, it shouldn't matter what your age is.)

Verdict: Must watch, but do not take a preconceived notion on what you will see.

RANAM is a malayalam thriller story directed by a new Comer. All the actors in the lead role have done their best. A perfect movie for those who enjoy actions, thrillers etc.