Ratsasan
Ratsasan (Tamil: ராட்சசன், romanized: rāṭcacaṉ, lit. 'Demon', pronounced [ɾaːʈsasaɳ], Raatchasan) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film directed by Ram Kumar. The film features Vishnu Vishal and Amala Paul, while Saravanan, Kaali Venkat, and Ramdoss play supporting roles. The film tells the story of an aspiring film director who becomes a police officer after his father's death and tries to track down a serial killer. The film was a blockbuster, receiving highly positive reviews and ran successfully in theatres.
| Ratsasan | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ram Kumar |
| Produced by | G. Dilli Babu R. Sridhar |
| Written by | Ram Kumar |
| Starring | Vishnu Vishal Amala Paul |
| Music by | Ghibran |
| Cinematography | P. V. Shankar |
| Edited by | San Lokesh |
Production company | Axess Film Factory |
| Distributed by | Trident Arts Skylark Entertainment T-Series (Hindi version- No theatrical release, TV release only) |
Release date | 5 October 2018 |
Running time | 145 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Box office | ₹23 crore[1] |
The film features music and background score composed by Ghibran, cinematography by P. V. Shankar and editing by San Lokesh. Production began in November 2016, with principal photography starting in June 2017. The film released on 5 October 2018, to mostly positive reviews from audience, and also became a commercial success, grossing ₹23 crore worldwide.
Ratsasan was remade in Telugu as Rakshasudu (2019) directed by Ramesh Varma with Bellamkonda Sreenivas and Anupama Parameswaran playing the lead roles.
Plot
The film opens with two old men discovering a corpse which happened to be a teenage school girl named Samyuktha, a 15-year-old school student who was found brutally murdered and wrapped in a polythene bag.
Arun Kumar (Vishnu Vishal) is an aspiring filmmaker who wants to make a movie on psychopaths. After being rejected many times despite having a good script and due to pressure from his family, he decides to give up his dreams and become an Assistant Sub-Inspector with the help of his brother-in-law, Doss (Ramdoss), a police officer himself. He moves and stay with his sister Kokila (Vinodhini Vaidyanathan), Prasad, and their daughter Ammu (Abhirami). Ammu gets into trouble when she makes Arun forge her father's signature in her report card as she failed in two subjects. Her class teacher Viji (Amala Paul) figures this out and thinks that she signed it herself. Ammu brings Arun to her school to act as her father. Later, which Ammu is caught by her parents, this leads them to transfer their daughter to another school. Later, Arun meets and befriends Viji and her niece Kayal (Baby Monica), who is speech deprived.
A teenage school girl named Amudha is abducted on her way back home. Her parents then find a mutilated doll's head in a gift box attached to their dog's collar. Arun finds a similarity between Samyuktha, who was murdered few days ago, and Amudha, both of them being 15-year-old school students who were kidnapped while returning home from school. Just like Samyuktha, the hair on the doll's forehead is uprooted, the eyes are drilled, and her mouth is damaged. Apart from that, in particular, there is a knife mark on Samyuktha's forehead, ears and nasion. The same marks were found in the doll's face . He tries to convince ACP Lakshmi (Suzane George), his superior egotistical officer, that this was a psycho at work, but his theories are brushed off as fake stories.
Later, Amudha's corpse was found brutally mutilated. The killer drilled out Amudha's eyes, broke her teeth, and uprooted her hair in patches. On top of that, Amudha's body was scarred all over with a knife while she was alive. Arun suggests the corpses be hidden from the public to prevent the killer from gaining public attention. Initially, the officials opposed this idea owing to breaking protocols, but they eventually give in, moving the bodies to a secret facility under Dr. Nandan (Nizhalgal Ravi). Soon after, another school girl named Meera (Priya) is abducted. She happened to be from Ammu's ex-school. The search leads to a teacher named Inbaraj (Vinod Sagar), who works at Ammu's current school and is revealed to be a paedophile who forces schoolgirls into irrumatio. Arun encounters Inbaraj trying to molest Ammu and beats him up before detaining him. Inbaraj admits to being a sexual predator but denies having anything to do with the murders. In a bid to escape, he holds Venkat (Kaali Venkat), a policeman, at gunpoint. Arun manages to gun Inbaraj down inside the lift thereby saving Venkat.
Meanwhile, Ammu is abducted during her birthday party at home. Arun and Doss try to find her but they were too late. Arun discovers her mutilated body in their own car trunk, implying that she is also killed. To make things worse, Arun is suspended for his negligence on shooting Inbaraj. Dejected and angry, Arun investigates the case by himself, with the help from a few policemen. Finding an audio clip from the hearing aid of Meera, he traces it back to an old lady magician named Annabella George's (Saravanan) performance at the victim's school function. The lady used her magic show as a tool to kidnap the girls since she impressed all the students with her magic tricks. She invites one student to perform an act and then interacted with the selected student to get closer to them. Then, she started to stalk the selected student leading to their kidnap exactly on the second day after meeting them, without any hassle. This leads him to the next potential victim, a schoolgirl named Sanjana (Trishala). Arun realised that he was following the wrong girl due to Sanjana having a twin sister. Sanjana was abducted, even though she was under surveillance. Arun tracks her location to a house in the city, where he narrowly saves Sanjana from being murdered. The perpetrator escapes, but her identity is revealed to be Mary Fernandez (her real name), who was involved in a killing a long time ago. Arun finds more about the case from the investigating officer, Rajamanickkam, (Radha Ravi), a retired cop.
Mary's son Christopher (Yasar) had been afflicted with Werner Syndrome i.e.(progeria), a hormonal disorder that caused him to look aged. He was an outcast at school, but a girl named Sophie (Ragavi Renu) took pity on him and befriended him. Christopher soon began to develop feelings for Sophie, but unfortunately, he is heartbroken when she turns down his love and is soon ridiculed at school. The next day, Mary asked Sophie to become friends again and handed her a gift. When Sophie opens the gift box, she found the mutilated head of a doll, the very same doll Sophie gifted Christopher for his birthday. Sophie was brutally murdered by Mary, and both Mary and her son were arrested.
It was then told that both Mary and Christopher died in an accident, but she is still alive and murdering with the same vengeance. Rajamanickkam finds a clue in the files but is killed by Mary before meeting Arun. On finding him at the scene of the crime, Arun is detained and kept handcuffed at the station. He discovers that Rajamanickkam was trying to reveal that the person who had been performing the magic show in the school had six fingers on left hand and by a photo evidence, it is known that it was Christopher who has six fingers. Since only Mary died in the accident, the psycho is not the lady; it is her own son Christopher, who has taken advantage of his aged appearance. Before Arun can act on this, Christopher attacks Viji and abducts Kayal. While trying to apprehend Christopher, Venkat is killed. Kayal escapes and is found by Nandan, who tries to hide her in the facility, but Nandan dies trying to protect her. Arun tracks down Christopher to the facility, and after a prolonged fight, manages to kill him and save Kayal.
The movie ends with the media reporting the chain of events and an end to the murders done by the psychopath. It is then revealed that Arun gets a chance to make a movie about a psychopath fulfilling his dream.
Cast
- Vishnu Vishal as Sub-inspector Arun Kumar
- Amala Paul as Vijayalakshmi
- Saravanan as Christopher & Mary Fernandez/Annabella George (dual role)
- Yasar as Young Christopher
- Kaali Venkat as Venkat
- Abhirami as Ammu
- Baby Monica as Kayal
- Ramdoss as Doss, Arun's brother-in-law and Ammu's father
- Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Kokila, Arun's sister and Ammu's mother
- Usha Elizabeth as Arun's mother
- Suzane George as ACP Lakshmi
- Nizhalgal Ravi as Dr. Nandan
- Sangili Murugan as Arun's house owner
- Trishala as Sanjana and Sangeetha (dual role)
- Priya as Meera
- Ragavi Renu as Sophie
- Vinod Sagar as Inbaraj
- Gajaraj as Gajaraj, Senior Police Officer
- Jai Anand as Anbarasu, Police Officer
- Thangam Paramanantham as Simon, Police officer
- Pasupathi as Pasupathi, Police Officer
- Sanjay as Inspector Durai Raj
- Raveena Daha as Sharmi, Ammu's classmate
- Ravishankar as Amudha's father
- Rekha Padmanaban as Amudha's mother
- Geetha Narayanan as Sanjana and Sangeetha's school principal
- Radha Ravi as Inspector Rajamanickkam (cameo appearance)
- Karunakaran as himself (cameo appearance)
- Ghibran as himself (cameo appearance)
Production
Following the release of the comedy drama Mundasupatti (2014), Ramkumar was keen to do a serious film to avoid being type-cast. He was inspired to write a film on a psycho killer after reading an international news story about Alexander Spesivtsev, and spent close to a year writing a fictional screenplay to fit around the character of a psycho killer. Ramkumar initially struggled to find an actor to play the lead role of a forty-year-old man with a child, and despite working the child out of the script as a result, he still found it difficult to convince actors to sign the film. In April 2017, actor Jai signed the project titled Ratchasan, which was set to be produced by C. V. Kumar of Thirukumaran Entertainment.[2] However soon after the actor and director dropped out of the project, and Kumar took the title of Ratchasan with him. Subsequently, throughout the production stage, the film was briefly known as Cinderella and then Minmini, but neither title was kept. The former title was claimed by another Tamil film's producers, while Ramkumar felt the latter seemed too light-hearted. Eventually, the team members managed to amicably convince Kumar to offer them the title of Ratchasan, which was later stylised to Ratsasan.[3]
Ramkumar chose to make the film with producer Dilli Babu and starring Vishnu in July 2017.[4][5] Amala Paul joined the cast of the film in late November 2017, with production starting thereafter.[6] In June 2017, the title of the film was changed to Raatchasan.[7] in association with T-series
Soundtrack
| Ratsasan (Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 27 September 2018 | |||
| Recorded | 2017-2018 | |||
| Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 14:13 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Saregama | |||
| Producer | Ghibran | |||
| Ghibran chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Ratsasan | ||||
| ||||
Ghibran composed the soundtrack and background score of Ratsasan. He began composing the soundtrack in early 2017. He also finished composing the theme music for the film's teaser in August 2018. The album features four songs composed by Ghibran and lyrics written by Umadevi, Ramkumar, Ratnakumar and GKB. One song "Kaadhal Kadal Dhana", was released as a single on 15 September 2018. The song written by Umadevi and rendered by Sathyaprakash and Chaitra H.G. received positive reviews from music listeners. It topped into the #1 position at the Radio Mirchi Top 20 Countdown, for nearly 4 weeks. Following that, a video song of the same was telecast on 30 September 2018, through Isaiaruvi channel at 4:30 p.m. IST.
The album was released on 27 September 2018, at the Suryan FM Radio Station, Chennai featuring the composer and other crew members present during the crew members present in the event. The film's soundtrack was commended by the audience and critics. M Suganth from The Times of India, gave a positive review for the soundtrack and stated "Kaadhal Kadal Dhana" as "a romantic melody, a genre that Ghibran is a master at. Slow and lullaby-like, the persistent strings in the background are soothing, and despite distinct arrangements, the vocals are pronounced enough to make an impact."
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singers | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Kaadhal Kadal Dhana" | Umadevi | Sathyaprakash, Chaitra H. G. | 3:26 |
| 2. | "Hey Piriyame Piriyame" | Ratnakumar | Yazin Nizar, Anudeep Dev, Pragathi Guruprasad, Ratnakumar | 3:50 |
| 3. | "Kanamma Kanvizhi" | Ramkumar | Sean Roldan | 3:27 |
| 4. | "Maayangal Naanada" (Theme Song) | GKB | Yazin Nizar, Ranjth, Shabir, Shenbagaraj, Narayanan | 3:30 |
| Total length: | 14:13 | |||
Background Score
| Ratsasan (Background score) | |
|---|---|
| Film score by | |
| Released | 31 October 2018 |
| Recorded | 2017-2018 |
| Genre | Film score |
| Length | 54:17 |
| Label | Saregama |
| Producer | Ghibran |
The original film score of Ratsasan composed by Ghibran was released on 31 October 2018. The album features 41 songs for a duration of nearly 54 minutes.
All music is composed by Ghibran.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ratsasan Theme" | 1:19 |
| 2. | "The Flies on a Dead Body" | 1:31 |
| 3. | "Ratsasan Piano Theme" | 0:55 |
| 4. | "Playing the Pain" | 1:26 |
| 5. | "Teacher Kanagaraj" | 2:04 |
| 6. | "Come to Papa, V1" | 0:31 |
| 7. | "Come to Papa, V2" | 1:02 |
| 8. | "Psychopath" | 2:45 |
| 9. | "Wake Me Up, V1" | 1:36 |
| 10. | "Wake Me Up, V2" | 1:16 |
| 11. | "Watch The Trail, V1" | 0:43 |
| 12. | "Watch The Trail, V2" | 0:39 |
| 13. | "I See You, V1" | 1:27 |
| 14. | "I See You, V2" | 2:12 |
| 15. | "Here, There, Where, V1" | 0:53 |
| 16. | "Here, There, Where, V2" | 0:58 |
| 17. | "Don't Look Back" | 1:15 |
| 18. | "Eyes On" | 0:57 |
| 19. | "Show Some Track" | 1:18 |
| 20. | "Stay on the Line" | 1:23 |
| 21. | "Face Me Now, V1" | 0:50 |
| 22. | "Face Me Now, V2" | 0:58 |
| 23. | "Call the Devil" | 1:17 |
| 24. | "Chasing the Trail" | 1:50 |
| 25. | "Tears in Dark" | 0:36 |
| 26. | "Game of Shadows, V1" | 1:26 |
| 27. | "Game of Shadows, V2" | 1:08 |
| 28. | "Count Your Clues, V1" | 1:29 |
| 29. | "Count Your Clues, V2" | 1:33 |
| 30. | "Count Your Minutes, V1" | 0:31 |
| 31. | "Count Your Minutes, V2" | 0:55 |
| 32. | "The Melancholy Hero" | 1:07 |
| 33. | "Prelude to Christopher" | 1:38 |
| 34. | "Life of Christopher, V1" | 0:44 |
| 35. | "Life of Christopher, V2" | 4:26 |
| 36. | "Watch Your Back" | 2:48 |
| 37. | "Clue Is On The Path" | 0:45 |
| 38. | "Beat in the Dark" | 0:42 |
| 39. | "Trial the Trail" | 0:41 |
| 40. | "Dark is the Key" | 1:37 |
| 41. | "This Ends Now" | 1:06 |
| Total length: | 54:17 | |
Release
Ratsasan was released worldwide on 5 October 2018. The film was well received by the audience as well as the critics. The film was also released in Malayalam with the same title.
Promotion
The first look poster of the film was released on 17 July 2017. The motion poster of the film was released on 11 May 2018. The teaser was released on 7 September 2018, gaining positive response, followed by the trailer which released on 21 September 2018.
Distribution
Initially 24PM, had acquired the distribution rights of the film, but it was later sold to Trident Arts.
Home media
The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV.[8] The satellite rights of the Hindi version, which was titled as Main Hoon Dandadhikaari (transl. I am a police magistrate), was sold to Star India and had a TV premiere on Star Utsav Movies on 31 December 2019 at 11:49 p.m. The film was again telecast a month later with full promotions on TV.
Reception
Box office
Ratsasan has earned around ₹40 crore.[9]
Critical response
Behindwoods wrote "Watch 'Ratsasan' the structured and engaging screenplay that makes it an intense psycho thriller" giving the movie 3.25/5.[10] Times of India gave it a 3.5/5, stating that "Ratsasan is a competent thriller, for the most part. There is a tautness to the storytelling, especially until the interval block, that keeps us hooked."[11] Sreedhar Pillai of Firstpost, rated 3 out of 5 stars, stating that "Vishnu Vishal's cop act is superlative but this thriller could've done with some trimming".[12] India Today rated 3 out of 5 stars, and commented "Vishnu Vishal's Ratsasan is one of the biggest releases in K-Town this week. The film is a carefully-written thriller, that has a few great moments, says our review."[13] Film Companion South called it "If you turn a blind eye to the coincidences (say, the plot point around an autorickshaw) and the obvious red herrings (a suspected killer), the bulk of Raatchasan works. Ghibran's terrific score is the aural equivalent of bad airplane food — it makes your tummy queasy. After Mundasupatti and Raatchasan, I'm definitely pumped about what Ram Kumar has in store next".[14] The News Minute, commented about the movie that "The film feels like a mix of all the psycho killer films you've seen before, but this surprisingly works for it."[15]
Accolades
| Date of Ceremony | Award | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 January 2019 | Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards | Best Editing | San Lokesh | Won | [16] |
| 25–28 April 2019 | Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards | Best Actor | Vishnu Vishal | Nominated | [17] |
| Best Villain | Saravanan | Won | |||
| Best Editor | San Lokesh | Nominated | |||
| Best Screenplay | Ram Kumar | Nominated | |||
| Best Music Director | Ghibran | Nominated | |||
| 16 August 2019 | 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Debut Actor | Saravanan | Nominated | |
| August 2019 | Oniros Film Awards (August 2019 Monthly Edition) | Best Soundtrack | Ghibran | Won | [18] |
| Best Thriller | Axess Film Factory | Won | |||
| Diamond Film Awards (August 2019 Monthly Edition) | Best Original Score | Ghibran | Won | [19] | |
| 20 September 2019 | Los Angeles Theatrical Release Competition & Awards (LATCA) | Best Musical Score | Ghibran | Won | [20] |
| Best Action Sequence | Won | ||||
| 21 December 2019 | 66th Filmfare Awards South | Best Film | Ratsasan | Nominated | [21] |
| Best Director | Ram Kumar | Won | |||
Remake
After the film's success, the makers decided to remake the film in Telugu, with actor Nithiin selected to reprise the role of Vishnu Vishal. But he opted out due to schedule conflicts, and was replaced by Bellamkonda Srinivas. Anupama Parameshwaran, was selected to play the female lead, reprising Amala Paul's role. The project was bankrolled by Havish under the banner A Studios, and was directed by Ramesh Varma. In March 2019, the film was titled Rakshasudu. The film was released in August 2019, to generally positive reviews.
References
- "Nithiin to reprise Vishnu Vishal in the Telugu remake of Ratsasan?". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- "Jai's next is 'Ratchasan'". Sify.
- "The psycho killer in 'Ratchasan' is based on a real person: Director Ramkumar to TNM". The News Minute. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- "Vishnu Vishal to join hands with 'Mundasupatti' director". sify. 21 September 2016.
- "Who will produce 'Mundasupatti' Director's second film?". Indiaglitz. 16 July 2016.
- "Vishnu to don khaki in his next". Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- "Vishnu Vishal- Amala Paul film title changed to Raatchasan". nowrunning.com. 19 June 2017.
- "சன் டிவியில் பொங்கலுக்கு ஒளிபரப்பாகவுள்ள ராட்சசன் படம்!". Dinamani. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
- "You just won't believe, but this is the top Indian movie of 2018!". Zee Business. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
- "Ratsasan (aka) Ratchasan review". Behindwoods. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- Ratchasan Movie Review {3.5/5}: Ratsasan is a competent thriller, for the most part., retrieved 8 January 2019
- "Ratsasan movie review: Vishnu Vishal's cop act is superlative but this thriller could've done with some trimming- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- "Ratsasan review: Vishnu Vishal's film is a well-thought-out crime thriller". India Today. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- "Ratsasan Movie Review". Film Companion South.
- "Ratsasan review: Vishnu Vishal shines in this exciting thriller". newsminute.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- "ஆனந்த விகடன் சினிமா விருதுகள் 2018 - திறமைக்கு மரியாதை". www.vikatan.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- "'Pariyerum Perumal' bags Best Film award at Norway Tamil Film Festival".
- "All the Winners". www.onirosfilmawards.com. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
- "August 2019". www.diamondfilmawards.com/about/. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
- "2019 Main Prize Winners Announced". www.thefilmfestival.com. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
- "Winners of the 66th Filmfare Awards (South) 2019". Filmfare. Retrieved 22 December 2019.