Shankar Ramakrishnan's directorial lacks thrill and connection due to poor writing and bad treatment.
A poster of the film 'Rani'. (Supplied)
Rani (Malayalam)
Revenge stories aren’t new in Malayalam films. Rani-The Real Story is the latest addition to the list. However, it is an investigative revenge thriller where five women play the lead roles.
How these women seek revenge forms a key element in the movie. This apart, the investigation part where Indrans plays the key investigator forms another crucial element.
Dharmarajan, the sitting MLA of a fictional village called Dharmapuram located on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, is murdered.
His young housemaid Rani (Niyathi Kadambi) is taken into custody by the police. However, the cops seek the assistance of Bhasi (Indrans), an eccentric police officer and a shrewd investigator, to solve the murder case.
As the investigation progresses, many flashback stories give us an insight into the different characters. Their past plays a crucial role in the film.
Bhasi travels through the past of different women — Sheeba (Urvashi), Nimmy (Honey Rose), and Teacher (Bhavana) — as they all have a connection with Dharmarajan.
Dharmarajan is portrayed as a ruthless politician who commits crimes to retain power and make money. He also has a difficult past. Sheeba is his elder sister.
His biography is written by his sister and the book has key information about him. The director keeps people wondering about the different plots in the movie.
Honey Rose appears as Nimmy in ‘Rani’. (Supplied)
The root cause of all the problems in the story is the serious threat caused by the quarries to Nature and the tribal colony located nearby, in particular.
Everything starts with illegal quarrying and how Dharmarajan unleashes terror on the inhabitants of the tribal colony.
Bhavana as the Teacher is an interesting character, but her portrayal as a social figure needs more scenes.
The basic plot of Rani-The Real Story is how Bhasi uncovers the truth behind the murder of Dharmarajan even though the police find culprits.
In the story, the real murderer’s intentions are justified. But Bhasi’s conclusions give more explanations which the audience might accept or not.
Anu Mol as Sona in ‘Rani’. (Supplied)
The real issue in Rani-The Real Story is the way it has been treated and conveyed.
The movie is touted to be an investigative thriller. But there are fewer thrilling moments. Also, the viewers will be left confused by the way the investigation scenes are treated.
In one such instance, two scenes are clubbed together which confuses the common audience about what is happening on the screen.
In his second movie, director Shankar Ramakrishnan has tried a different genre. His debut movie Pathinettam Padi (2019) is a coming-of-age drama.
His efforts to make an investigative thriller with women in lead roles are to be lauded.
Nevertheless, the climax scene is a huge letdown due to its artificiality.
The usage of complex dialogues by characters also doesn’t work in favour of the movie.
Though some other characters are shown to have been connected to Dharmarajan’s wife, these portions don’t go well with the story as the overall treatment isn’t up to the mark.
Everyone has issues with Dharmarajan and his grey shade is utilised, but the murder part isn’t convincing.
Music is the biggest positive in Rani-The Real Story. In fact, the songs and the background music composed by Mena Melath balance the pace of the film.
The Tamil song written by Kodai Arjun leaves an impact on the audience. The background score elevates most of the scenes, especially emotional ones.
The cinematography by Vinayak Gopal gives a peculiar tone to the flick.
The quarry scenes and the festival part in the initial scenes are captured with ease by the young cinematographer.
Indrans plays a key role in ‘Rani’. (Supplied)
Niyathi Kadambi as Rani gets maximum screen presence. Her expressions are too good.
Bhavan’s character could have been written well.
Urvashi gets a good role to play. She hasn’t done such strong roles in the recent past.
Anu Mol, as Dharmarajan’s wife, is decent.
Honey Rose as Nimmy has nothing much to do.
Mala Parvathy is decent enough, but nothing exceptional.
Indrans is impressive. But his unnecessary mannerisms could have been trimmed.
Guru Somasundaram as Dharmarajan is good.
Rani-The Real Story is a genuine attempt by Shankar Ramakrishnan. But the film has some serious connection issues that affect its complete treatment and the climax portions could have been avoided.
(Views expressed here are personal.)
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