'Ramaleela' review: A political thriller echoing reality

Arun Gopy’s directorial debut deviates from the usual Dileep story lines

In the past few years, we have come to expect nothing much from Dileep’s films, other than the usual fare of double entendres, misogyny and hero worship. So much so that even that rare, slight deviations from this script could make us think highly of the film, because the bar for Dileep’s films is set so low. To say that a particular film of his is better than many of his recent films is not really a positive commentary on that film, for the comparison is only with his own previous works.

Ramaleela , the debut directorial of Arun Gopy, is one such film which deviates from the usual Dileep script. This deviation though veers much too close to his real life, bearing resemblance to the happenings of the past few months. Ramanunni (Dileep), MLA of the Communist party, resigns and joins the rival camp. Amid the campaigning for the byelection, for which he is the candidate for the rival party, the district chief of the Communist party Ambady Mohanan

(Vijayaraghavan) is murdered. Ramanunni becomes the prime suspect due to his known hostility to the dead man. The circumstantial evidences too point against him.

Much of the film is thus Ramanunni’s quest to prove his innocence. What plays out in the theatre is wish-fulfilment for his fans, of seeing their hero facing up to the challenge and coming out unscathed, as is expected. The script, written by Sachy, throws up a host of dialogues that would seem as if written after he was taken into custody as an accused in real life. One of these is the line that they have used in the trailers too – “It seems someone has already decided that I should be the culprit,” eliciting wild cheers from his fans.

This similarity with real life works both ways – for the fans, this is all that they asked for. But for the others, the eerie similarities does not make for comfortable viewing. Other than these similarities, there is not much of novelty on view here. The entire second half is dedicated to a sting video of Ramanunni and his accomplice Thomas Chacko (Kalabhavan Shajon), who are cooped up in a secret location, on the run from the law. The sting video is released episodically, with the entire State including the investigation team sitting glued to the television sets. Everything in the movie seems to be an excuse to prove the hero’s intelligence.

Coming at such a juncture, there could be many ways in which

Ramaleela could be interpreted. Keeping aside the happenings outside the theatre, and judged for its own quality,

Ramaleela is a political thriller that does not break any new grounds. But, which might look much better than that to some, given the actor’s sorry record of late on screen.

Film: Ramaleela

Starring: Dileep, Kalabhavan Shajon, Prayaga Martin

Direction: Arun Gopy