Romans (film)

Romans
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Boban Samuel
Produced by	Arun Ghosh Bijoy Chandran
Written by	YV Rajesh
Starring	Kunchacko Boban Biju Menon Niveda Thomas
Music by	M Jayachandran Bijibal Maniyil Rajeev Alunkal(lyrics)
Cinematography	Vinod Illampally
Edited by	Lijo Paul
Production company	Chand V Creations
Distributed by	Chand V Creations & Popcorn Entertainments
Release dates	17 January 2013 (2013-01-17) [1][2]
Running time	156 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹4.5 crore[3]
Box office	₹13.45 crore[3]

Romans is a 2013 Malayalam comedy thriller film directed by Boban Samuel.^[4][5] The film is produced by Arun Ghosh and Bijoy Chandran under the banner Chand V Creations.^[6][6] The film stars Kunchacko Boban, Biju Menon and Niveda Thomas in the lead roles, along with Lalu Alex, T. G. Ravi, Nelson Sooranad, Kalabhavan Shaju, Kochu Preman, and Vijayaraghavan in supporting roles.^[4][5]

The film released on 17 January 2013,^[1][2] and received positive response from critics.^[7][8] The film was a commercial success at the box office.^[3][9]

Plot

Akash (Kunchako Boban) and Shibu (Biju Menon) are two convicts. They are being transported to another jail with another convict via train. Shibu and the other convict beats the cops and Shibu jumps out of the train with Akash in tag.

Meanwhile not so far away is a village called Poomala, which is on the Kerala - Tamil Nadu border. Thommichan (Lalu Alex) is the only rich man in the village and is respected highly by the others. He manages to get two priests to come and reopen their church (But the men were saying that they cannot come. Thommichan misheard it as they will come). He begins to start the preparations to welcome them.

As fate has it, Akash and Shibu reach Poomala. They end up reaching the church and they find themselves surrounded by the townsfolk. Soon, they realize that the people have mistaken them to be preists (the ones that were supposed to come). The men begin to masquerade as preists to avoid being captured. Akash becomes Fr.Paul and Shibu becomes Fr.Sebastian aka Sebu.

The men find luck on their side as their doings end up having a positive effects and strengthening the belief of the townspeople. Some examples include the time when Shibu causes the old and unused church bell to become good again while he was trying to steal it. Another example is when they are to cure the insanity of the mother of Mathukutty, a tailor and friend. The woman attacks them and unknowingly hits a socket and gets electrocuted, which cures her. But the event leaves Geevarghese, a precher who does not like the new priests to unknowingly get shocked and become insane.

The men constantly hear the people telling that 'the men came even after knowing everything'. The duo have no idea what the people mean by that. They ask Achankunju, the sexton, about the truth and he tells the truth.

A priest named Fr.Gabriel was the priest of the church years ago. A girl fell in love with him and commited suicide after revealing the truth to him. When the townsfolk heard the news, they came to question Fr.Gabriel, who by then had hung himself. It is said that his ghost has been killing all the preists who come to the church and perform rituals during the Perunal or holy day.

Akash and Shibu become scared and plan to escape. Moreover, Akash finds out that Thommichan's daughter Eleena (Niveda Thomas) is a girl he knows and the girl knows who Akash is. Akash was a magician who was a friend of Eleena. He was arrested for cheating and robbery. She at first threatens to expose the men but later forgives them after knowing the deeds they did.

The men's attempts to flee end up failing as they circle back and end up back in Poomala. Finally, Shibu plans to steal some ornaments and escape. But Akash opposes leading to a fight. Shibu locks him in a room and runs away, butbAchankunju frees Akash (initially believing that it was a ghost). Akash finds that Shibu has not run away and they reconcile.

Later, they perform the ritual where the preists are said to die. Akash tells that the Fr.Gabriel is the cause of the curse a moves to destroy his coffin. But just before he makes his move, he seemingly bleeds as dies. When the townsfolk blame Akash/Fr.Paul, Shibu/Fr.Sebu insults Fr.Gabriel. This invokes Pappichayan (T.G.Ravi) an eldery photographer who is highly respected, and he shouts that the church should be destroyed and a new church in Fr.Gabriel's name should be built.

Just then, the seemingly dead Fr.Paul gets up and reveals that he faked his death to reveal the truth to the townsfolk. He reveals that Pappichayan is actually the father of Fr.Gabriel. He blame the town for killing his son and has been killing every priest who comes to the church. He poisons a food item (Vayanayappam) which the preists eat during the ritual, thus making it look like a curse or clueless death. It is revealed that Shibu saw Pappichayan poisoning their Vayanayappam the night he tried to run away with the loot. This prompted him to return and reveal the facts to Akash. To avoid exposing Shibu/Fr.Sebu, Akash/Fr.Paul lies that Fr.Sebu had a vision in which he saw the truth and the townsfolk blindly believe them (owing to the fact that the townsfolk believe the priests have mystical powers). Pappichayan is subseqeuntly arrested.

Sometime later, the priests ask the townsfolk to close their eyes for prayer. When everyone is praying, the men escape. While running, Akash sees Eleena, who tells him to keep running. But they soon are caught by the police. The inspector (Kakka Ravi) tells the men that he knows what did in Poomala and as a reward, their punishment will be reduced. Akash smiles and winks at Eleena, as the cops take him and Shibu.

It is shown that the people of Poomala still have not learned the truth about the priests and consider them to be god's angels.

Cast

Release

Romans released on 17 January 2013 in 74 cinemas across Kerala,^[1][2] receiving positive response from critics. The film was a notable commercial success at the box office and ran for over 100 days in theatres.^[7] Satyam Audios released the Blu-ray, DVD and VCD of Romans on 20 May 2013.

Critical reception

Some critics noted that the plot is similar to the 1989 Neil Jordan film We're No Angels.^[10][11]

Smitha of One India gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, stating that "Romans is a comic caper and you will have plenty of reasons to laugh your heart out!"^[12]

IndiaGlitz gave the movie 6.5/10 stars, concluding that "Romans is targeted at the massive number of spectators who relish zany capers. If you are a member of this group, it's double the fun and guffaws this time; almost sure in leading to another commercial hit."^[13]

Sify gave the movie a verdict of 'Watchable', stating that "Romans gives the feeling that it could have been an excellent comedy, if those behind the film had put in some more efforts into it. In the current form, it would be a decent one-time watch."^[10]

Paresh C Palicha of Rediff gave the movie 2/5 stars, saying that "Romans is just an average comic caper that does not make any sense if you want to take something back from the film."^[14]

Box office

The film was made at a budget of ₹4.5 crore, including print and publicity cost.^[3] It collected ₹5.25 crore share in 35 days from Kerala.^[15] The film ran for over 100 days in theatres and grossed a total of ₹13.45 crore.^[3]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 4 songs, all composed by M. Jayachandran and Band Vidwan. Lyrics by Rajiv Alunkal.

References