The King & the Commissioner

The King & the Commissioner
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	Renji Panicker
Produced by	Anto Joseph
Starring	Mammootty Suresh Gopi
Cinematography	Bharani K. Dharan Sharavanan Shaji Kumar
Edited by	Samjith Mohammad
Music by	Rajamani
Production company	Emperor Cinema
Distributed by	Play House Entertainments Release
Release date	23 March 2012 (2012-03-23) (India) [1]
Running time	190 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	15 crore
Box office	6.5 crore

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. The film is a crossover of the films Commissioner (1994), The King (1995) and Bharathchandran I.P.S. (2005).

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) - following departmental protocol, they decide to inform the Minister about this criminal trespass as the intercepted conversation mentioned the name of the Prime Minister of India. Before they can inform the concerned Minister, they are killed by two cops, who are joined by a senior police officer, Shankar Ramdas (Devan). Unbeknownst to them, Ali Imran, a photo journalist, 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 (Sai Kumar) at his ashram demanding for the information he passed before. A tainted spiritual figure with deeply entrenched connections with prominent politicians in Delhi and even possessing the clout to influence the judiciary, Chandramoulishwar is the disciple of yesteryear Godman Swami Amoorthananda (Narendra Prasad) - who had a predominant drug cartel functioning within his Ashram.

However, Swami is 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, Govindankutty Menon (G.K) (Janardhanan), the Union Minister in charge of Internal Security, assigns Joseph Alex I.A.S (Mammootty) to investigate the death of Dr. Sudarshan.

The Prime Minister, Ghanthachalam Paramashiva Rao (Mohan Agashe) accords the constitutional status of a commission of inquiry to Joseph's investigation team and reminisces the friendship he had shared with Dr.Sudarshan. As a Rajya Sabha member, Ghanthachalam was a close friend of Alexander (M. G. Soman) , Joseph's father - and sarcastically remarks that Joseph never visited him in that capacity. Raman Madhavan and Chandramoulishwar are distressed about the refusal of the Prime Minister to sanction a colossal arms deal - termed the Romanov Proposal - as the ratification of the defence contract will ensure huge kickbacks for them. The scheming sage recollects the assistance rendered by him to the P.M to ensure the victory of his minority government during numerous floor tests and decides to eliminate the P.M paving the way for Raman Madhavan to ascend as the next Prime Minister - by the orchestration of a security crisis, the seasoned politicians will be compelled to give up Prime Ministerial ambitions concreting Raman's claim.

Subsequently, Joseph meets the forensic analyst and doctors are to ask them to give a fresh report and include the facts that they have excluded deliberately before. After seeing a mysterious man in a black leather jacket walking away from his car, Joseph gets a call from Nanda (Samvrutha Sunil), the daughter Minister G.K and a news journalist. She shows him the picture of a cop holding a gun towards someone inside a white car. Imran 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 Union Home Ministry, is assigned to assist Joseph in the probe. Both of them are able to get Shankar arrested, but Shankar is soon killed by Rana in the premises of the Delhi High Court - Shankar had conceded to testify to the Court on the conspiracy pertaining to Dr.Sudarshan's murder. After the fiasco at the Court, Joseph and Bharath brief G.K about the involvement of Abu Jalal Rana in Shankar's death and the ultimate goal of the Pakistan mercenary force is something much more pivotal as per intelligence inputs shared by the Embassy of U.S.A.

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 would suffer huge financial loss. The expenses are 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 himself 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, are 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. They manage to kill the ISI agents, and they confront Rana, and both Joseph and Bharath draw their guns to shoot him 2 times, respectively. Afterward, Joseph comes close to Rana and quips at him before sticking a flag pole (with the on it) into his chest while chanting "Bharath Mata ki Jai". They also lock Swami, and Raman Madhavan in a car, and Bharath places a bomb in the 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][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.^[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 Flop grossing 6.5 crores.

References[]

External links[]

• The King & the Commissioner at IMDb