Ramaleela movie review: This Dileep starrer feels like an imitation of life

Ramaleela movie review: This Dileep starrer has starking similarities to the real life of the actor.

Ramaleela movie cast: Dileep, Prayaga Rose Martin, Raadhika Sarathkumar, Siddique, Sreenivasan
Ramaleela movie director: Arun Gopy
Ramaleela movie rating: 2.5 stars

Not very often we get to see a film that has starking similarities to the real life of the actor playing the lead role in it. While watching Ramaleela, whose release faced a lot of protest due to actor Dileep’s alleged involvement in the infamous abduction and sexual assault of an actress case, one can’t help but wonder how closely it resonates with the current events unfolding in Dileep’s real life.

Ramannunni (Dileep) a Communist party MLA resigns and joins the Opposition party that’s against his ideology. His differences with the party chief Ambady Mohan (Vijayaraghavan) is the main reason as to why he jumped ship. His resignation necessities a by-poll in his constituency, setting a stage for a high-voltage political campaign.

Like his late father, Ramannunni’s mother Sakhavu Ragini (Radikaa Sarathkumar) also swears by the communist party. She even publicly disowns Ramannunni after he joins a new party that claims to walk in the path of Mahatma Gandhiji.

Mohan decides to pit Ragini against Ramannunni in the bye-election. That’s predictable. And soon the course of the story takes a different turn following the assassination of Mohan. In a football stadium, where hundreds of fans, police officials, and political leaders, hooked to an interesting soccer game, Mohan gets shot in the chest and he’s dead before he hits the ground.

Ramannunni becomes the prime suspect in the case as he was also present in the stadium when Mohan was shot dead. In less than 24 hours, the investigation led by DySP Paulson Devassy (Mukesh) concludes that Ramannunni is the culprit.

Ramannunni and his sidekick Thomas Chacko (Kalabhavan Shajon) give the cops the slip as the onus to prove their innocence is upon themselves now. Most of the dialogues delivered by Ramannunni following the killing of Mohan fits so aptly to Dileep’s defence in the sensational case that has turned his celebrity life upside down.

The public, media and his party reaction to the police investigation that concludes that Ramannunni is the mastermind of the crime, reminds us of backlash faced by Dileep following his arrest.

This curiosity of mine to find similarities between the film and Dileep’s real life, kept me more engaged than the story unfolding on the big screen. Many characters written by director Arun Gopy is hard to buy even for a second. Paulson – A top police officer who makes knee-jerk conclusions on a serious investigation. Mohan – A seasoned politician who doesn’t think twice before telling Ramannunni that his father was killed at his behest. A half-baked conflict and sentiment between mother and son. And I didn’t know what to make of characters played by Renji Panicker and Prayaga Martin. Many other characters who are supposed to be smart but ends up being just pawns in Ramannunni’s web of deception.

The background score and music by Gopi Sunder has lifted up most of the underwhelming scenes. And Kalabhavan Shajon’s performance and comic timing crack up the audience at times. While Dileep is at ease performing a character that is being investigated in a serious case.