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Commissioner (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Commissioner' is a 1994 Indian Malayalam-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Shaji Kailas, written by Ranji Panicker, and produced by M. Mani. It stars Suresh Gopi as Police Commissioner Bharath Chandran IPS, and also features Ratheesh, Shobana, Vijayaraghavan, M. G. Soman, Rajan P. Dev, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, N. F. Varghese, Karamana Janardanan Nair, and Maniyanpilla Raju in pivotal roles. The background score was composed by Rajamani.
The film follows Commissioner Bharath Chandran's investigation into the murder of Justice Mahendran, which eventually leads him to confront the corrupt Delhi based businessman named Mohan Thomas, who is involved with illegal businesses. 'Commissioner' became the highest grossing Malayalam film of 1994, which earned Suresh Gopi as the status as an 'Action Superstar'. It is a cult film among Keralite audiences, with several dialogues from the film became very famous. The Telugu dubbed version 'Police Commissioner' was a major commercial success.
The sequel 'Bharath Chandran I.P.S.' was released in 2005, directed by Ranji Panicker. In 2012, a crossover film 'The King & the Commissioner', with the characters from 'The King' (1995), 'Commissioner' (1994) and 'Bharath Chandran I.P.S.' (2005) was released. But it was mainly panned by critics and audiences alike.
Plot
Kozhikode city commissioner Bharathchandran, an honest but brash IPS officer, bust a gold smuggling racket at the Calicut docks where he clearly has an issue with authority, and breaths fire each time he encounters a political arm bender, such as Kunju Moideen Sahib, whose gang was involved in the bust, but his mentor I.G. Balachandran evidently shields him from the wrath of the political brass. Mohan Thomas is a Delhi-based business tycoon, with strong political clout and a clear sociopathic agenda, who had entrusted Sahib with the gold, which was confiscated by Bharathchandran and is, in fact, the kingpin heading an unholy nexus of politicians, assassins and various officials, including two high ranking cops, I.G. Rajan Felix, Vigilance and A.I.G. Menon, who are involved in criminal activities like instigating communal riots,money laundering,illegal drug trade and large scale distribution of counterfeit money.
Bharathchandran and Mohan Thomas are set on a collision course when Mohan and Co. brutally murder Justice Mahendran, chairman of the Poovanthura commission, possessing evidence that could potentially incriminate Rajan Felix and Menon, for their direct involvement in communal riots at Poovanthura. Bharathchandran is not only assigned to investigate the homicide but also posted as the police commissioner of Thiruvananthapuram city. Assisted by two dynamic, but brash ASPs Prasad Menon and Mohammed Iqbal, Bharathchandran tries to solve the mystery, but soon to hit a dead-end. Bharathchandran's fiance Indu, a lawyer, tips him off about the news clip on an assault on a drunk police constable Gopinathan, who also was coincidentally the security for Justice Mahendran. In an attempt to take Sunny, Mohan's younger brother, who had assaulted the constable within the college premises, results in a massive riot as well as a standoff with Rajan Felix, who tries to save Sunny by trying to take him into his custody, claiming previous charges.
The only clue that is left with Bharathchandran and crew are based on Vattapara Pithamparan, a trade union leader, tips-off that Sunny had actually attacked Gopinath because of Gopinath's comment on counterfeit currency. With this vital clue, Bharathchandran unearths more dirt on Mohan Thomas & Co. Further, Bharathchandran arrests Srilatha Varma, Mohan's legal advisor and mistress, but is brutally murdered in a hotel elevator by Wilfred Vincent Baston, a Goa-based hitman, who had also murdered Justice Mahendran. Bharathchandran is successful in nabbing Antony Ignatius Pimento, Wilfred's right-hand man, and zeroes in on Wilfred. Then he stages a coup by arresting both Rajan Felix and Menon, who are brutally tortured to reveal details on their alliance with Mohan Thomas and also sheds light on their agenda. Iqbal is killed brutally in an attempt to arrest Wilfred Vincent Baston. This enrages Bharathchandran, who later brutally kills Wilfred and Mohan Thomas at an outhouse by torching the whole house, thus taking the law into his own hands.
Cast
* Suresh Gopi as City Police Commissioner Bharathchandran IPS
* Ratheesh as Mohan Thomas, Rajya Sabha MP
* Shobhana as Adv. Indhu Kurup
* K. B. Ganesh Kumar as ASP Prasad IPS
* Vijayaraghavan as ASP Muhammad Iqbal IPS
* M. G. Soman as IG Balachandran Nair IPS
* Rajan P. Dev as IG Rajan Felix IPS, State IB Chief
* Bheeman Raghu as Wilfred Vincent Bastin
* N. F. Varghese as AIG Harikrishnan Menon IPS
* Baiju as Sunny Thomas
* Karamana Janardanan Nair as Justice Mahendran
* Chithra as Advocate Sreelatha Varma
* Ravi Vallathol as K.M. Varghese, Central Minister
* Ragini as Achamma Varghese
* Maniyanpilla Raju as Constable Gopinathan
* Augustine as Vattappara Peethambaran
* Priyanka Anoop as Susheela, Gopi's wife
* Kollam Thulasi as Peethambaran, Home Minister of Kerala
* Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair as Kunjurama Kurup
* Sathaar as Rural SP Bobby IPS
* K.P.A.C. Sunny as Kunju Moideen Sahib
* Sadiq as Sugunan
* Ranji Panicker as Journalist Gopakumar
* Biju Pappan as Goonda
* T.S.Krishnan as Henchman
Release
'Commissioner' was released on April 1994 coinciding the Vishu festival and was a commercial success, where it broke several records. The film remains an iconic film in Suresh Gopi's career with its audio track and dialogues being high on demand. The film received an A certificate from the regional censor board for violence and profanity.
Reception
The film became the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year 1994 and collected 16 crore from Kerala box office alone. Due to the box office success of the Malayalam film, the film was soon dubbed into Tamil and Telugu as well. Both these versions went on to become top grosser to the utter surprise of their distributors. The Telugu version titled 'Police Commissioner' was the most successful among the two. It created history by running successfully for more than 365 days in theaters across Andhra Pradesh. The Telugu version became a success even in Karnataka.
Legacy and Sequels
The characters 'Bharathchandran IPS' and 'Mohan Thomas' portrayed by Suresh Gopi and Ratheesh are considered to be the most iconic characters in Malayalam film industry. A sequel to this film, 'Bharathchandran I.P.S.', was released in 2005, directed by Renji Panicker himself, which was also a commercial success. A crossover film titled 'The King & the Commissioner' was released in 2012, but was declared a commercial failure at the box office.
References
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