Romans (2013 film)

Romans is a 2013 Malayalam comedy thriller film directed by Boban Samuel.[5][6] The film is produced by Arun Ghosh and Bijoy Chandran under the banner Chand V Creations.[7][7] The film stars Kunchacko Boban, Biju Menon and Niveda Thomas in the lead roles. The movie is an unofficial remake of 1989 American comedy film We're No Angels, directed by Neil Jordan.

Romans
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBoban Samuel
Produced by
  • Arun Ghosh
  • Bijoy Chandran
Written byYV Rajesh
Starring
Music bySongs:
M Jayachandran
Background score:
Bijibal Rajeev Alunkal (Lyrics)
CinematographyVinod Illampally
Edited byLijo Paul
Production
company
Chand V Creations
Distributed byChand V Creations & Popcorn Entertainments
Release date
  • 17 January 2013 (2013-01-17)
[1][2]
Running time
156 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam
Budget₹4-4.5 crore[3][4]
Box office₹20 crore[4]

The film released on 17 January 2013,[1][2] and received positive response from critics.[8][9] The film was a blockbuster at the box office.[3][10]

Plot

Akash (Kunchako Boban) and Shibu (Biju Menon) are two convicts. They are being transported to another jail with another convict via train. Shibu and the other convicts beats the cops and Shibu jumps out of the train with Akash in tag.

Meanwhile, not so far away is a village called Poomala, which is on the Kerala - Tamil Nadu border. Thommichan (Lalu Alex) is the only prominent and wealthy man in the village and is respected highly by the townsfolks. He manages to get two priests to come and reopen their church (But the men were saying that they cannot come. Thommichan misheard it as they will come). He begins to start the preparations to welcome them.

As fate has it, Akash and Shibu reach Poomala. They end up reaching the church and they find themselves surrounded by the townsfolk. Soon, they realize that the people have mistaken them to be priests. The men begin to masquerade as priests to avoid being captured. Akash becomes Fr.Paul and Shibu becomes Fr.Sebastian aka Sebu.

The men find luck on their side as their doings end up having a positive effects and strengthening the belief of the townspeople. Some examples include the time when Shibu causes the old and unused church bell to become good again while he was trying to steal it. Another example is when they are to cure the insanity of the mother of Mathukutty, a tailor and friend. The woman attacks them and unknowingly hits a socket and gets electrocuted, which cures her. But the event leaves Geevarghese, a preacher who does not like the new priests to unknowingly get shocked and become insane.

The men constantly hear the people telling that 'the men came even after knowing everything'. The duo have no idea what the people mean by that. They ask Achankunju, the sexton, about the truth and he tells the truth.

A priest named Fr.Rodriguez was the priest of the church years ago. A girl fell in love with him and committed suicide after revealing the truth to him. When the townsfolk heard the news, they came to question Fr.Rodriguez, who by then had hung himself. It is said that his ghost has been killing all the priests who come to the church and perform rituals during the Perunal or holy day.

Akash and Shibu become scared and plan to escape. Moreover, Akash finds out that he knows Thommichan's daughter Eleena (Nivetha Thomas) and she knows who Akash is. Akash was a magician who was a friend of Eleena. He was arrested for cheating and robbery. She at first threatens to expose the men but later forgives them after knowing the deeds they did.

The men's attempts to flee end up failing as they circle back and end up back in Poomala. Finally, Shibu plans to steal some ornaments and escape. But Akash opposes leading to a fight. Shibu locks him in a room and runs away, but Achankunju frees Akash (initially believing that it was a ghost). Akash finds that Shibu has not run away and they reconcile.

Later, they perform the ritual where the priests are said to die. Akash tells that the Fr.Rodriguez is the cause of the curse and moves to destroy his gravestone. But just before he makes his move, he seemingly bleeds and dies. When the townsfolk blame Fr.Paul, Fr.Sebu insults Fr.Rodriguez. This invokes Pappichayan (T.G.Ravi) an elderly photographer who is highly respected, and he shouts that the church should be destroyed and a new church in Fr.Rodriguez's name should be built.

Just then, the seemingly dead Fr.Paul gets up and reveals that he faked his death to reveal the truth to the townsfolk. He reveals that Pappichayan is actually the father of Fr.Rodriguez. He blames the town for killing his son and has been killing every priest who comes to the church. He poisons a food item (Vayanayappam) which the priests eat during the ritual, thus making it look like a curse or clueless death. It is revealed that Shibu saw Pappichayan poisoning their Vayanayappam the night he tried to run away with the loot. This prompted him to return and reveal the facts to Akash. To avoid exposing Fr.Sebu, Fr.Paul lies that Fr.Sebu had a vision in which he saw the truth and the townsfolk blindly believe them (owing to the fact that the townsfolk believe the priests have mystical powers). Pappichayan is subsequently arrested.

Sometime later, the priests ask the townsfolk to close their eyes for prayer. When everyone is praying, the men escape. While running, Akash sees Eleena, who tells him to keep running. But they soon are caught by the police. The police inspector Vetrimaaran (Kakka Ravi), who has been hunting the duo since their escape, tells the men that he knows what they did in Poomala and as a reward, their punishment will be reduced. Akash smiles and winks at Eleena, as the cops take him and Shibu.

It is shown that the people of Poomala still have not learned the truth about the priests and consider them to be god's angels. The end credit scenes shows two men in Santa costumes celebrating Christmas with some elderly women. The men are later revealed to be Akash and Shibu, who have once again escaped.

Cast

Release

Romans released on 17 January 2013 in 74 cinemas across Kerala,[1][2] receiving positive response from critics. The film was a notable commercial success at the box office and ran for over 100 days in theatres.[8] Satyam Audios released the Blu-ray, DVD and VCD of Romans on 20 May 2013.

Critical reception

Some critics noted that the plot was similar to the 1989 Neil Jordan film We're No Angels.[11][12]

Smitha of One India gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, stating that "Romans is a comic caper and you will have plenty of reasons to laugh your heart out!"[13]

IndiaGlitz gave the movie 6.5/10 stars, concluding that "Romans is targeted at the massive number of spectators who relish zany capers. If you are a member of this group, it's double the fun and guffaws this time; almost sure in leading to another commercial hit."[14]

Box office

The film had a high opening at the Kerala box office. The film was made at a budget of ₹4.5 crore, including print and publicity cost.[3] The film ran for over 125 days in theatres and grossed a total of ₹20 crore from the box office.

Soundtrack

All lyrics are written by Rajeev Alunkal; all music is composed by M. Jayachandran and Band Vidwan.

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Arthunkale Palliyil"Vijay Yesudas, Sudeep Kumar 
2."Kuyil Paadiyoru"Vijay Yesudas, Merin Gregory 
3."Mele Maanathoodaano"Vivek Thomas, Anoop Mohandas 
4."Sarvadayaaparane"Anwar Sadat 
gollark: You can't magically create a backdoor only accessible by people using it for "good reasons", and I would not trust *anyone at all* with the power to arbitrarily read people's communications.
gollark: Don't need to do parenting if the government constantly monitors all your child's communication™!
gollark: Everyone knows a surveillance state is an excellent alternative to good parenting.
gollark: This sort of thing is always immensely stupid and/or actively malicious against the population of the country question.
gollark: https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/24/us_encryption_backdoor/

References

{{Reflist|refs= [13] [14] [11]

  1. "Romans Arrives". Sans Cinema. 17 January 2013. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  2. "'Romans' and 'Nakhangal' to release today (Jan 17)". Sify. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  3. Moviebuzz (8 July 2013). "Malayalam cinema – First Half of 2013 Progress Report". Sify. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  4. Pudippedi, Haricharan (17 December 2013). "Comedies reaped gold for southern cinema (2013 In Retrospect)". Business Standard. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  5. "A Roman holiday". The Hindu. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  6. "Romans on roll". IndiaGlitz. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  7. "Romans; Cast and Crew". NowRunning. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  8. "Romans' up with fine reports". IndiaGlitz. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  9. "Romans opens to excellent reports". Sans Cinema. 19 January 2013. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  10. Deepa Gauri. The best of Malayalam cinema in 2013 26 December 2013 Khaleej Times
  11. "Movie Review: Romans". Sify. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  13. Smitha (18 January 2013). "Romans Movie Review – It's a comic caper". One India. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  14. "Romans – These 'Romans' are just right". IndiaGlitz. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
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