Raghava (Dhanraj Koranani) in Ramam Raghavam is a hard man to empathise with. When we meet him, he is already down in the dumps. There’s barely anything he does later that makes us root for him. At the interval point, Raghava makes a decision that takes us by shock, despite a bar that’s already too low. Such a choice might further distance us from him emotionally, but it creates space for a narrative where the protagonist is not necessarily the one we want to win.
It’s a fairly conventional template in the first half — a righteous father figure (Samuthirakani) is cursed with an irredeemable heir. Raghava is someone who keeps being drawn to mistakes and blunders. However, even while touching upon familiar plot points, the film moves at a rather quick pace. The first half suffers from a few snags — convenient character choices, loud BGM — but the story keeps moving.
Even the staple romance track is handled with a surprising brevity; after a few moments where we see Raghava and Varsha (Mokksha), the spunky neighbourhood girl, interact with a lot of warmth, Varsha clearly tells him how she doesn’t like him enough for a life partner. This subplot is given no further arc, as Raghava returns to tackling his mediocre life.
Ramam Raghavam also operates within a small universe, focusing entirely on these three characters living under the same roof — Raghava and his parents — and there are moments when the limited scale of the narrative shows its emotional potential.
Fortunately, Dhanraj, making his directorial debut, handles the material well and executes the drama with a self-assuredness. However, the problem lies is in the material itself.
It’s in the second half where the film gains an edge, only to gradually lose it again. There are plenty of minor twists here, as the protagonist decides to stick to his despicable plan to get back at his father despite several barriers.
However, the film doesn’t spend enough time establishing the core of its conflict — why did the father and son drift apart? Why was Raghava ever tempted to go into rebel mode, despite receiving plenty of love during childhood? When exactly did Ramam give up on his son? In a way, Ramam Raghavam throws us into the middle of a story, instead of gently ushering us into it. So, from the get-go, the audience is expected to catch up and keep fitting the pieces of this emotional jigsaw together — it’s too laborious a task.
The concept of Ramam Raghavam is more suited to a novelistic approach, where the writers would have the chance to explore the complexities of its protagonists in an introspective and more emotionally searing manner. Since this is a feature film, the writers are compelled to keep it straightforward and broad.
Out here, Raghava is more prone to looking like a plain evil man, instead of a flawed soul struggling to accept his own failings. Deva (Harish Uthaman) too is an interesting character.
He is someone who stands up for his friend, is capable of literally slapping sense into him, and then vulnerably confesses some of his darkest thoughts. Yet, his character is not fully explored to its potential. The problem circles back to Ramam Raghavam’s mixed ambitions, of telling a morally complex story using a simplistic route. This inability to embrace its grey shades becomes the biggest undoing for the film.
Dhanraj does justice to his character, capturing Raghava’s emotional frailties with a lot of poignance. And yet, there are a few sequences which called for a more seasoned and internalised performance.
Samuthirakani, on the other hand, plays Ramam with great simplicity, keeping in tandem with the moral clarity of his character. Pramodini, despite a relatively smaller role, leaves an impact, especially in the emotional scenes. Filmmaking workshops
The film somehow redeems itself with its climactic segment that shocks you in more ways than one, by embracing both death and life in different forms. It shows how either of them can be liberating for your soul, depending on what your idea of redemption is. It leaves you with a sombre feeling of life itself, which often gives us no easy answers. At the same time, you are only reminded of how much more this film could have achieved.
Ramam Raghavam
Cast: Dhanraj Koranani, Samuthirakani, Satya, Pramodini, Harish Uthaman, Sunil, Mokksha
Director: Dhanraj Koranani