Raman Malayalam Movie
Raman, directed by Dr. Biju, who earlier had directed Saira, is a film that deserves to be seen and appreciated, in spite of the few flaws that it has.
Raman has as the central character a dumb person by that name, who lives in a small village and wanders about with children, playing with them. Outside the realm of Raman's innocence, we see lots of things happening all around, all across the world. The U.S has begun a war on Iraq and we see people in Raman's little village too coming up with protests against this.
There are lots of other issues too which come up - terrorism and the insecurity arising out of it; dead fish floating on the waters of the little village as a result of pollution; water scarcity; farmers committing suicide owing to financial problems etc. Raman, though he seems much removed from such realities, cannot keep himself aloof from all these. His sensitive heart reacts and responds to all these, but in a different manner.
Running in parallel we have the story of Diya, a television journalist, who is determined to make a film against the U.S invasion of Iraq and the atrocities perpetrated on the people there. All this is weaved together in a rather sensitive manner and moves on to a very symbolic climax.
Raman makes some strong statements against imperialism and war, but much of it does not get communicated. The film's pace or the lack of it is one of its main drawbacks as far as the average viewer is concerned. The director's endeavour to dwell on too many issues at once, does not help matters. There are also some clichéd images that could have been avoided.
Coming to the pluses, Anoop Chandran, who has mostly been seen in comic roles, gives an excellent performance as Raman. There's nothing much to be said about the others in the cast. The film belongs to Anoop Chandran.
Though it has to be said that Raman is better than Saira in many respects and also that such films need to be encouraged, it must also to be pointed out that the director's eagerness to discuss multiple issues rather than focusing on one makes much of his effort go waste.
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