Bharatchandran IPS

Infobox Film
name = Bharatchandran IPS


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starring = Suresh Gopi
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released = 2005
runtime = 120 minutes
country = flagicon|India India
language = Malayalam
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"Bharatchandran IPS" is a 2005 Malayalam movie directed by Ranji Panicker and starring Suresh Gopi, Shreya Reddy and other popular Malayalam actors. It is a sequel to the 1994 movie "Commissioner" which raised Suresh Gopi to super-star status in Malayalam filmdom. Suresh Gopi essays the title role of Bharatchandran IPS, a righteous City Police Commissioner who doesn't mind assaulting even his superior officers and powerful politcians while staging a one-man-fight against the corrupt political machinery prevailing in the state.

Synopsis

This is a return film for Suresh Gopi, who was in a hiatus for over three years for various reasons. He appears to have added on a lot of weight and aged considerably since Commissioner. His trademark punchline dialogues, like "Just remember that!" also find a place in this movie.

Shreya Reddy, a VJ of the South Indian music channel Southern Spice Music, plays the role of Hema Vishwanath, a lady officer who admires the hero from a distance. Her presence is almost unnoticeable in the film.

The film has a runtime of 120 minutes and is without any songs, which is atypical of Malayalam films. The original background score for "Commissioner" by Rajamani, which is a popular mobile phone ringtone in Kerala, is remixed for the film.

Plot

In the previous movie, "Commissioner", Bharatchandran crossed paths with Mohan Thomas (the late actor Ratheesh), a powerful manipulator who virtually has the state and its machine at his command. The movie ends with Bharatchandran finishing off Mohan Thomas after fighting off numerous lesser villains along the way, almost single-handedly.

The movie begins with communal riots erupting in Malabar, the northern region of Kerala, after the murder of Mayambaram Baba (Sreeraman), an iconic Muslim erstwhile leader. Baba is murdered amidst tight security in the premises of a special court in Mangalore where he was supposed to give evidence about the foul play behind an earlier communal riot. The evil syndicate headed by 'Janab' Hyderali Hassan (Saikumar) which felt that their existence will be questioned if Baba were to reveal the truths about the communal violence riots incited by them, silences him using a hired killer, Kala Purohit Khan. As a matter of fact, the communal violence following Baba's murder are triggered and intensified by Hyderali himself, to throw the region in a state of chaos. He has other sinister motives also, like having the huge amount of land left behind by the fleeing population to himself for building a private sea port through which he hopes to pump illicit money, drugs and weapons into the state.

Bharatchandran makes a late entry into the film, almost near the end of the first half. The Chief Minister of the state, Thomas Chacko (Vijayaraghavan) entrusts the investigation of the Baba murder with Bharatchandran. He and his team of an assistant officer Anwar (Madhu Warrier) and Dy. SP Pookkoya (Rajan P Dev) report to IG of Police Habib Basheer (Lalu Alex). Bharatchandran works his way into the hierarchy of the Hyderali syndicate, starting with Shweta Nachappa, a Karnataka police officer who was on duty on the day of the murder and who seemed to know about the murder beforehand. Hyderali silences Shweta after he finds out that Bharatchandran is trailing her. This doesn't seem to deter him, he spits fire as he courses his way through to Hyderali.

Mentions are made about Bharatchandran's past during the nine years that is supposed to have elapsed since he terminated Mohan Thomas. Incidentally, this is the actual time-frame between the release of the two movies. He is told to have been under suspension for the major part of that time and even served a term in jail for his actions. His lady love, the lawyer Indu (Shobhana) eventually became his wife and got him acquitted of his charges. She was shot dead by Mohan Thomas's goons on the day of Bharatchandran's acquittal. Bharatchandran has a daughter aged ten who amusingly has her mother's name.

Ironically, the Chief Minister himself is shown to be part of the dark side. IG Habib Basheer, who is like an elder brother to Bharatchandran, gets killed while trying to save him from the bullets of Kala Purohit's gang. The enraged-beyond-limits Bharatchandran confronts Hyderali for the final showdown, flanked by Anwar and Pookkoya and flaunting a captured Kala Purohit. The final scene is worlds different from its predecessor which shows Bharatchandran shooting numerous henchmen and torching an entire warehouse to kill Mohan Thomas. There is no unnecessary bloodshed here; after giving an empty revolver to Kala and asking him to shoot Hyderali, Bharatchandran kills Kala when he tries to shoot him instead. He soon places a bullet on Hyderali, before the very eyes of the scared-beyond-wits Chief Minister who is witness to the entire scene.

Cast

* Suresh Gopi - Bharatchandran IPS.
* Lalu Alex - Habib Basheer IPS.
* Saikumar - 'Janab' Hyderali Hassan.
* Shreya Reddy - Shweta Vishwanath IPS.
* Madhu Warrier - Anwar.
* Rajan P Dev - Dy. SP Pookkoya.
* Vijayaraghavan - Chief Minister Thomas Chacko.
* Sreeraman - Mayambaram Baba.

Trivia

* Vijayaraghavan, who plays the corrupt Chief Minister in the movie, essayed the role of Bharatchandran's colleague in the earlier movie, Commissioner. He invariably gets killed by Mohan Thomas in the film.

External links

* [http://www.12kerala.com/movies/bharathchandranips.htm entry for Bharatchandran IPS]
* [http://www.12kerala.com/movies/movies.htm entry for Suresh Gopi movies]