The King & the Commissioner

The King & the Commissioner
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	Renji Panicker
Produced by	Anto Joseph
Starring	Mammootty Suresh Gopi Samvrutha Sunil
Cinematography	Bharani K. Dharan Sharavanan Shaji Kumar
Edited by	Samjath
Music by	Rajamani
Production company	Emperor Cinema
Distributed by	Play House Entertainments Release
Release date	23 March 2012 (2012-03-23)
Running time	190 minutes (Theatrical version) 305 minutes (Extended version)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	8.5 crores

The King & the Commissioner is a 2012 Malayalam political thriller film written by Renji Panicker and directed by Shaji Kailas, starring Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Samvrutha Sunil, Saikumar and Janardhanan. The film was earlier reported to be a successor to 1995 film The King and 1994 film Commissioner and its sequel Bharathchandran I.P.S. of 2005, however director Shaji Kailas reportedly said that the film features a new plot in a new background where the lead characters of his and Renji Panicker’s films (Joseph Alex IAS & Bharath Chandran IPS) are coming together. Mammootty and Suresh Gopi are reprising their roles Joseph Alex IAS and Bharath Chandran IPS respectively.

The film released in 200 theaters all over India.

Plot

This movie's plot revolves around a Joseph Alex I.A.S (Mammootty) in the lead role. A Pakistan military group under Maj. Abu Jalal Rana trespasses Indian waters targeting New Delhi. The plan is intercepted by Dr. Emma John of Intelligence Wing who informs it to her senior Padmabhushan Dr Sudarshan (Nedumudi Venu). Though Dr. Sudarshan tries to contact Home Minister, his Secretary (Sreekumar)snubs him by saying that its crazy to wake the minister up late at night and agrees for a meeting on the next morning. Dr Sudarshan offers Dr Emma a ride back home as it is too late for her to catch the metro train. Kishore Balakrishnan (Vijay Menon), the senior analyst at the agency, is seen pushing the mobile jammer button and calling Swamini Bodheswari who was calling an Income Tax Commissioner to not order arrest on a person. On the way back home, Dr Sudarshan and Emma is chased and pulled over by two cops who shoots them down. Unbeknownst to them, Imran, a photo journalist manages to click the pictures in his camera. The cops take with them some documents before leaving the crime scene where they are joined by Shankar Ramdas (Devan), a senior police officer. Kishore sets off to see Swami Chandramoulishwar (Saikumar)at his ashram demanding Rs 2 cr for the information he passed before. But Swami suffocates him till he passes out before pushing him to Yamuna.

The bodies of Dr Sudarshan and Emma are found next day on the banks of river Yamuna in an intimate position. A few metres away another dead body of Kishore is found drifting. Police concludes that Kishore who was madly in love with Dr Emma John killed both Dr Sudarshan and herself out of jealousy and then killed himself by drowning in the river. Raman Madhavan (Jayan), the director of NID pays a visit to Swami Chandramowlishar's ashram where he is met with some foreign arm traders. They conclude that if the PM is alive the deal wont take off and it has become highly necessary for the PM to give way for Raman Madhavan. Swami takes Raman Madhavan to meet Rana and his men disguised as Swamis.

G.K (Janardhanan), the central home minister assigns Joseph Alex I.A.S (Mammootty) to investigate the death of Dr Sudarshan. He shrugs of the findings of Forensic Director and analyst and asks them to give a fresh report with the facts they have excluded deliberately before. He comes out of the Forensic building and is shocked to find a mysterious man in black leather jackets walking away from his car and getting into another. Joseph gets a call from Nanda (Samvrutha Sunil), the daughter of Home Minister, who is also a news journalist, who shows him the picture of a cop holding a gun towards someone inside a white car. Imra, who had clicked this photo has a gut feeling that he has seen Dr. Sudarshan in that car.

Mr Bharath Chandran IPS (Suresh Gopi) is assigned to assist Joseph in probe. Both Joseph and Bharath get Shankar arrested. But in court, Shankar is killed by henchmen of Swami. Meanwhile Joseph is called into the PMO to be told that he is off the case now. He retorts to the personal Assistant to PM when the latter tries to taunt him but is stopped by Home Minister. Joseph requests Privacy with PM to start off another lengthy argument that culminates in allowing him to continue with the case. Also he makes the PM understand that if something were to happen to him, the nation will suffer huge financial loss for the burial and following elections and other things and it is these expenses Jospeh is concerned about rather than PM's Life. Swamiji gets pissed off at the PA on this. He decides its vital to assassinate the PM to make Raman Madhavan the next PM by ensuring support from many coalition party leaders. He gives Rana the green signal to kill PM and fixes the date. ACP Arjun captures the PA coming out of Swami's Ashram by disguising as the driver. The next day the PA is taken into custody where he is interrogated by K&C. Soon after they leave, the pak army men pretending as Delhi Police comes in and asks for PA's custody, but then they draws the gun out and shoots ACP Arjun on the head. In the ensuing fight Ubaid manages to kill several Pak officers but Rana himself shows up and kills both Ubaid and the PA. Enraged Bharath storms into the Ashram where he is held at gunpoint by Swamis men after few minutes of verbal exchange. Joseph appears right in time to save Bharath from getting killed and tells Swami that he is not an idiot to come alone. After a few dialogues, Swami is taken into custody and informs him that they are not going to put him into a trial. Later Raman Madhavan too is taken into custody at the middle of night by the officers. They track down the location of the ISI agents in the middle of a deserted place. Both Swami and Raman Madhavan are taken to that place and the people accompanied them are shot dead in front of the building. Minutes later Bharath and Joseph arrives with a team of commandos and the sneaks into the dilapidated cottage where they bumps of several baddies. At last the confront Rana who initially overpowers them. But after getting thrown away by Rana, both draws strength to kick the hell out of Rana. After a brief stint of dialogue delivery Joseph draws the gun at him and shoot Rana 3 times. Then Bharath draws the gun and after telling a few words he too shoots Rana another 3 times in the leg. Then Joseph comes close to Rana and quips at him before sticking a flag pole into his chest chanting 'Bharath Mata ki Jai'. They both turns to Swami and Raman Madhavan and locks them up in the car and fixes a bomb on it. The bomb explodes after they getting out of the building, killing both Swami and Raman Madhavan.*

Cast

A short list of cast

• Mammootty as Joseph Alex
• Samvrutha Sunil as Nanda daughter of Minister G. K
• Suresh Gopi as Bharathchandran IPS
• Saikumar as Swami Baba Chandramowlishwar
• Janardhanan as G. K., Central Home Minister
• Nedumudi Venu as Padmabhooshan Dr. E.K.Sudharshan
• Jayan as Raman Madhavan, Director of NID
• Devan as Shankar Ramadas IPS, Deputy Director NID
• Biju Pappan
• Baiju Ezhupunna
• P. Sreekumar as Krishnan Nair, P.A to Central Minister G. K
• Mohan Agashe as the Prime Minister
• Kunchan as Kurup
• KPAC Lalitha
• T. P. Madhavan as Dr. K.R. Mahadevan
• Fathima Babu as Justice Eliyamma Pettikaran
• Vijay Menon as Kishore Balakrishnan
• Kishore as Ali Imran
• Neha Mishra
• Becky Thomas
• Sanjana

Production

Background

The films The King and Commissioner were successful films at the box office during their period. The success of the latter also led to a 2005 sequel Bharath Chandran I.P.S., in which Suresh Gopi reprised the title character, one of the most powerful characters of his films that in-turn gave a come back for Suresh Gopi. The film The King & the Commissioner is the fourth film for Mammootty and tenth film for Suresh Gopi, which is scripted by Renji Panicker. The film also marks the comeback of Shaji Kailas-Renji Panicker duo after a gap of 16 years. "It’s all about the commercial quotient. Nobody wants to remake a flop film. As for ‘King and the Commissioner’, even after 16 years both the characters are still there in the public memory, so why not cash on that? You have an assured brand and you would rather sell it than think of a new one. But risk factors are still there as there is a huge gap between the two and the audience have become more techno savvy and so you have to tweak the sequel to match to their taste," says Renji Panicker, who has scripted all the four films.

Casting

The project was finalized after a long period of discussion, as the relationship between the two lead stars was not so warm. The movie had its spate of controversies during casting itself. First being the animosity between the lead actors with Suresh Gopi almost staging a walkout owing to differences between him and Mammootty. In fact the director was even planning to replace Suresh Gopi with Prithviraj. But it's been said that later the duo buried the hatchet and agreed to shoot the film. 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. Kannada actress Sanjanaa was later signed to play this role. 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.

Filming

The shooting of the much hyped film began at Trivandrum on 6 June 2011. Mammootty joined the set on 13 June and Suresh Gopi on 27 June. After one round of shooting in Trivandrum, the shooting shifted to Kochi and then to Delhi. 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 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 leave from filming. For Suresh Gopi, Bharath Chandran IPS is a role closest to his heart. "It is definitely thrilling but at the same time challenging to bring it to a different level and live up to the expectations... It will definitely have no semblance to the original, neither the script nor the presentation as the tastes of the audience have changed. I think the upright and plain speaking Bharat Chandran till date remains the most popular of my cop roles and also was a major breakthrough for my career at that time. With Ranji Panicker, I don’t need to worry about my role or script; we know each other very well."

Reception

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Theater Balcony rated the film and said "The King and The commissioner [sic] might be a big hit. Mammootty, as Joseph Alex IAS gave one of the sparking performance in the film and was good with his cracking dialogues, actions and screen appearance. He apparently got standing applause for most of the dialogues. Any ways Fans got a movie to show their strength. Suresh Gopi,as Bharath Chandran IPS scored with his unmatchable dialogue delivery and actions. ".
Malayalam Net rated the film and said "The King and the Commissioner is a movie filled with some amazing dialogs and sequences with an usual [sic] storyline. ".
Sify.com's verdict was that the film is "disappointing". Their review 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."
Metromatinee.com rated the film as 'mass entertainer' and also said that "'The King and the Commissioner' depicts the modern socio-political scenario as perceived by the protagonists. Advertisements even refer to it as a film with an extra bone!. ... Mammootty looks young and charismatic in his role as Joseph Alex and his dialogues are indeed gripping. Suresh Gopi, always popular for his dialogue renditions, upholds his reputation with his hard-hitting screenplay and intermittent flare-ups. Saikumar, the anti-hero deserves a special mention here too. He is fantastic in his outright negative role. His personality and the kind of arrogance he mirrors on screen, makes him an award-worthy performer."
Rediff.com rated the film 2 out of five stars and said the movie is watchable. the movie stirs nostalgia and those who like the old king and commissioner will definitely like this.
IndiaGlitz rated the film points.
Nowrunning.com rated the film and said "The blood, bullets and the bombs are there in abundance, and irrespective of the box-office status of this film, I seriously think its time for these officers to move on".

Box office

The film released in 200 theaters all over India. The film had a very good opening in the theatres but owing to the mixed reviews, the film ended up being a box office average. The film was sold out for a handsome amount of 3.6 crores to Mazhavil Manorama as satellite rights.

External links

• The King & the Commissioner at IMDb