The King & the Commissioner

The King & the Commissioner is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film written by Renji Panicker and directed by Shaji Kailas, starring Mammootty and Suresh Gopi in the title roles. The film is a crossover of the films Commissioner (1994), The King (1995) and Bharathchandran I.P.S. (2005).

The King & the Commissioner
Theatrical release poster
Directed byShaji Kailas
Produced byAnto Joseph
Written byRenji Panicker
StarringMammootty
Suresh Gopi
Music byRajamani
CinematographyBharani K. Dharan
Sharavanan
Shaji Kumar
Edited bySamjith Mohammad
Production
company
Emperor Cinema
Distributed byPlay House Entertainments Release
Release date
  • 23 March 2012 (2012-03-23)
(India) [1]
Running time
190 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Plot

A Pakistan military group under Maj. Abu Jalal Rana (Rajiv Kumar) trespasses Indian waters, targeting New Delhi. The plan, however, is intercepted by Dr. Emma John of Intelligence Wing as she informs it to her senior Padmabhushan Dr. Sudarshan (Nedumudi Venu). Before they can tell the home minister, however, they are killed by two cops, who are joined by a senior police officer, Shankar Ramdas (Devan). Unbeknownst to them, Ali Imran, a photojournalist manages to take pictures of the scene onto his camera. Meanwhile, Kishore Balakrishnan (Vijay Menon), the senior analyst at the agency, sets off to see Swami Chandramoulishwar (Saikumar) at his ashram demanding for the information he passed before. However, Swami was able to suffocate him before pushing him into the Yamuna river. The next day, the bodies of Kishore, Dr. Sudarshan, and Dr. Emma are all found in the river and riverside. Since both the bodies of the doctors are seen in an intimate position, the police conclude that Kishore killed the two out of jealousy, and then killed himself right after by drowning himself into the river.

However, G.K (Janardhanan), the central home minister assigns Joseph Alex I.A.S (Mammootty) to investigate the death of Dr. Sudarshan. He is represented as THE KING with a Lion.Consequently, he goes to the forensic director and analyst to ask him to give a fresh report and include the facts that they have excluded deliberately before. After seeing a mysterious man in black leather jacket walking away from his car, Joseph gets a call from Nanda (Samvrutha Sunil), the daughter of the home minister and a news journalist. She shows him the picture of a cop holding a gun towards someone inside a white car. Imran (Kishore), the owner photo has a gut feeling that he has seen Dr. Sudarshan in that car.

On the other hand, Mr. Bharath Chandran IPS (Suresh Gopi), an Inspector-general of police from Kerala cadre, who is on deputation in the Central Home Ministry, is assigned to assist Joseph in probe. He is represented as THE COMMISIONER with a Tiger. Both of them are able to get Shankar arrested, but Shankar is soon killed by a henchman of Swami in court. Later on, Joseph is called into the PMO to tell that he is off the case now. He retorts and is able to be continue with the case after convincing the PM. He states that if something were to happen to the PM, the nation will suffer huge financial loss. The expenses is what Joseph is concerned about rather than the PM's life. Because of this, Swamiji gets pissed off that he decides to assassinate the PM through Rana. In this way, Raman Madhavan (Jayan Cherthala), the National Security Advisor (India) will be the next PM after ensuring support from many coalition party leaders.

Meanwhile, ACP Arjun captures the PA coming out of Swami's ashram by disguising as the driver. However, although the PA is taken into custody, the Pakistan army men pretending as Delhi Police comes in and asks for PA's custody. The next thing they do is to draw the gun out and shoot ACP Arjun on the head. In the ensuing fight, Ubaid manages to kill several Pakistan officers, but Rana shows up and kills both Ubaid and the PA. Enraged, Bharath storms into the ashram, but is held at gunpoint by Swami's men. Nevertheless, Joseph appears right in time to save Bharath from getting killed, by killing one of Swami's men. Swami, and Raman Madhavan later at night, is taken into custody. When both of them are about to be taken to the location of the ISI agents, however, the people who accompanied them are shot dead in front of the building. Minutes later, Bharath and Joseph arrive into the dilapidated cottage with a team of commandos. There, they confront Rana, and both Joseph and Bharath draw their guns to shoot him 3 times respectively. Afterward, Joseph comes close to Rana and quips at him before sticking a flag pole (with the national flag of Pakistan on it) into his chest while chanting "Bharath Mata ki Jai". They also lock Swami and Raman Madhavan in a car. The bomb explodes after, killing both Swami and Madhavan. Then they go back to the Prime Minister's office, and though initially furious, the Prime Minister greets them for fulfilling their mission.

Cast

Production

Background

There were two separate films before entitled The King and Commissioner, which starred Mammootty and Suresh Gopi in 1995 and 1994 respectively. These films were successful at the box office during their period.[2][3] Therefore, the 2012 film The King and the Commissioner is a film based on the two films mentioned. In addition, the lead actors in two different films were joined together with Renji Panicker as the scriptwriter.

The 2012 film marks Mammootty's fourth film and Suresh Gopi's tenth film. Moreover, it also marks the comeback of Shaji Kailas-Renji Panicker duo after a gap of 16 years.[4][5]

The film was earlier reported to be a successor[6] to the three films namely The King, Commissioner, and its sequel Bharathchandran I.P.S. in 1995, 1994, and 2005 respectively. However, Kailas reportedly said that the film features a new plot in a new background, wherein the lead characters in Panicker's films and his are coming together.[7]

Casting

The project was finalized after a long period of discussion since the relationship between the two lead stars was not so warm.[8] The movie had its spate of controversies during casting itself. In fact, the director was even planning to replace Suresh Gopi with Prithviraj. Nevertheless, it has been said later that the duo buried the hatchet and agreed to shoot the film.[9]

In addition, Shaji Kailas and Anto Joseph had initially announced that Reema Sen will play a role in the film, second to the lead heroine Samvrutha Sunil.[10] However, Kannada actress Sanjanaa was later signed to play this role.[11] Moreover, veteran actor and psychiatrist Dr. Mohan Agashe debuts in Malayalam in a cameo in the film. It was Mammootty, whom Agashe had known from the time he was shooting for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who suggested his name.[12]

Filming

The shooting began in Trivandrum on 6 June 2011. Mammootty joined the set on 13 June.[13] After one round of shooting in Trivandrum, the shooting shifted to Kochi and then to Delhi.[14][15] Some scenes were also shot in Kozhikode. It is reported that the shooting of the film was going on in Kochi, when the income tax raids at Mammootty's residence took place. Mammootty had to be present before the investigators and the filming was delayed to a few days. It is also reported that the ill-health of Suresh Gopi was another reason for scrapping the shooting of the film. He is said to have reduced 15 kilos to look thinner, which led him to face health problems and take a leave from filming.[9]

Reception

Critical reception

The film was panned by critics.

Rediff.com rated the film 2 out of five stars and said "It's high on nostalgia but The King And The Commissioner has nothing new to offer says."[16]

  • Sify rated the film as disappointing and said "A better script, more believable characters, some real trimming and a modern style could have done wonders for The King and The Commissioner. But in the current form it succeeds in reminding about the earlier movies, though it is painfully long at more than three hours.".[17]
  • IndiaGlitz rated the film 5 out of 10 points and said the film is "stuffed with all the cliches of Ranji-Shaji films".[18]
  • Nowrunning rated the film 2 out of 5 and said "'The King and the Commissioner' does try to make up for its very serious loss of a sense of intrigue by going in for those flashy cuts and chic looks."[19]

The film ended up as a box-office disaster.

References
  1. "The King and Commissioner on March 23". Sify. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  2. Pillai, Sreedhar (19 August 2005). "The season of sequels". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  3. Pillai, Sreedhar (30 December 2005). "Boom year for mollywood". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  4. "Deadly duo back in hunt!". Bangalore Mirror. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  5. "King and Commissioner unite". Indian Express. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  6. "The King and the Commissioner: Mammootty & Suresh Gopi together again". zonkerala.com, Magazine. Zonora Technologies. 19 July 2010.
  7. Joseph, Anju (26 June 2011). R. Balakrishnan, Madhu (ed.). "പുതിയ ചരിത്രമെഴുമാൻ ജോസഫ് അലക്സും ഭരത് ചന്ദ്രനും ഒരുമിചെത്തുന്നു" [Joseph Alex and Bharathchandran are coming together to write new history]. Nana Film weekly (Print) (in Malayalam). Kollam: Nana. 39 (35): 31. രൺജിയുടെയും എൻറെയും ഞങ്ങളുടെ സിനിമയിലെ ഏറ്റവും ശക്തമായ കഥാപാത്രങ്ങളെ യോജിപ്പിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് വളരെ സവിശേഷതയുള്ള പുതിയരു പശ്ചാത്തലത്തിൽ പുതിയൊരു കഥ പറയുകയാണ്
  8. "കിംഗ് കമ്മിഷണർ ഉപേക്ഷിച്ചു" (in Malayalam). Kaumudi Plus. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  9. "Action Replay". The New Indian Express. IBN Live. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  10. "Reema moves to Malayalam?". Sify. 8 June 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  11. "Sanjanaa plays heroine in King & Commissioner". Sify. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  12. George, Vijay (6 July 2011). "Insights into an actor". Chennai, India: The Hindu. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  13. "Mammootty to Start Shooting for The King and the Commissioner". NDTV. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  14. "Mammootty shooting King and Commissioner". South Asia Mail. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  15. "കിംഗ് ആൻഡ് കമ്മിഷണർ കൊച്ചിയിൽ" (in Malayalam). Kaumudi Plus. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  16. "Review: The King And The Commissioner stirs nostalgia". rediff.com.
  17. "The King And the Commissioner". 'sify.com'.
  18. "The King And the Commissioner Malayalam Movie Review – IndiaGlitz". 'indiaglitz.com'.
  19. "The King And the Commissioner Malayalam Movie Review – nowrunning". 'nowrunning.com'.
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