Ranam

The story is thrilling, emotions are high, songs are nice, still lost somewhere in becoming a top-notch movie. Still the movie is good and worth watching. The movie is unevenly paced...lagging at some places. Also,felt the story telling went wrong nearing to the climax. Overall, worth watching.

'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.

Ranam is an intriguing tale of 'that vital man in the gang' who wants to leave his gang forever for a new life .The crime drama directed by the newbie Nirmal Sahdev has more than enough to hook the audience on it ,eventhough at some places we can feel a tad bit lag and cliche ---------- Its basically the tale of a person who wants to get rid of his current life as a gangster/drug peddler . Prithviraj as Aadhi ,the vital man of the gang,as usual does a brilliant job in his acting, the attitude and in his well nuanced dialogue delivery. Speaking about the villian,Rahaman as Damodar Ratnam, the head of the gang, also puts up a good act on par with the hero .Other actors also puts up good convincing acts except Isha Talwar which at some points falls flat. ----------- The strong points of the movie are its brilliant cinematography(the lighting is perfect) along with the music that hits the bullseye(Jakes Bejoy is going to stay here and compose a lot of music in the near future...!).These two combined with the editing(which is also excellent) makes this movie standout from all the gangstermovies that we have seen in Malayalam industry and is seemingly comparable with dark urban mafia dramas of the West..! --------------- The only weak point seem to be the (a little bit) cliched story line of gangster rivarly..! ------------- And also as a rule of thumb for me.. if a movie portrays original action scenes without the usual dishkoomm..!..it is highly watchable..!! ------------- Ranam should be watched in theatres for its brilliant making ,cinematography, music and for the story to an extent.The great American dream has another side to it..!!!

I was wondering how this one of the most anticipated film of prithviraj gone ignominious in box office so I decided to check myself and you know what I got? Well,this film has almost everything from great actors, scintillating visuals to catchy music but it lacked in one major department- script. It lacks great storyline which actually could engage you right from the word go. Made as an emotional thriller and yet none of the characters barely could evoke sympathy from me, Prithvi's tragic past doesn't connect well, so is Nandu's, Rahman role was supposed to be menacing but it lacks that too and above all isha's character was totally bland after losing everything in her life I could barely feel bad for her. Even dialogues written for characters seems better than the film itself, albeit climax was somewhat better than I expected. Gangster genre is pretty much alien to Malayalam cinema even they attempt to make one it ended up as a failure so this one is no different. Coming to the positive side film excels in capturing one of the notorious city detroit magnificently. Music done by Jakes bejoy was top notch and deserves an applaud. Action scenes were good and cinematography was breath takingly beautiful. Prithviraj and tragic character can't have a better match than this it is his forte playing stoic character so he was in his comfortable zone. Actors like Rahman, Nandu and some new actors did their part well. Isha talwar seem miscast at some places. +ve: Music, visuals, actors -ve: script, lagging Putting all the technical finesse and not so bad climax I'll rate 6.2/10. Go for it if you're Prithviraj fan or all you just care about spectacular looking hollywoodish film with pretty good music and action.

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.