Rudraksham

Rudraksham
Directed by Shaji Kailas
Produced by M. Mani
Written by Ranjith
Starring Suresh Gopi
Annie
Vijayaraghavan
Rajan P. Dev
Music by Rajamani
Sarath
Cinematography S. Kumar
Edited by Bhoominathan
Release dates
 1994
Country  India
Language Malayalam

Rudraksham is a 1994 action Malayalam film starring Suresh Gopi, Annie and Devan. Written by Ranjith and directed by Shaji Kailas, this action movie did not meet studio expectations and was declared a flop at the box office.

Plot

Vishwanathan (Suresh Gopi), due to his passion for farming and agriculture, gave up his job in an MNC and has been settled in his village. One day he gets a call from Hyderabad that Revathi (Maathu), his sister, who is studying medicine at a medical college has been missing for the past couple of days. Vishwanathan sets out to Hyderabad on the same day in a tourist bus. The bus, which is on a trip to Tirupati, is packed with a set of Tamil Brahmin pilgrims. Gowri (Annie), a beautiful girl among them grabs his attention for her singing abilities. The next day morning, on reaching Hyderabad, Vishwanathan reaches the college, and from her friends comes to know that Revathi had received threats from one Sudhakar Reddy (K. B. Ganesh Kumar), son of an underworld don. Revathi, who had witnessed a murder committed by Sudhakar, had planned to appear at an identification parade at the police station. Sudhkar in fury, rapes her, and in an effort to save herself, she falls down from the top of a building and dies. Vishwanathan visits the nearby police station to file a complaint, but gets cold response from the local inspector. He even threatens to arrest Vishwanathan, if he decides to move ahead with the complaint. Vishwanathan, who goes crazy of anger, gets into a scuffle with Sudhakar, and kills him, which causes his father Reddy, who is now ruling the city, to hunt for Vishwanathan. He is saved by the rival mafia don Patel (Devan). Vishwanathan is made to stay at a brothel run by Patel, where he meets Appu (Maniyanpilla Raju), a good hearted chap. At the brothel, he is shocked to see Gowri, with whom he had a crush on the bus on the road to Hyderabad. From Appu, he comes to know that she was trapped and kidnapped at Tirupathi and has been sold to Patel by a lady pimp (Lalithasree). On meeting Vishwanathan, Gowri pleads him to save her. At night, she hits the local inspector with a liquor bottle, causing him injury. Vishwanathan decides to save her and is helped by Appu in finding a route outside. Appu introduces him to Jose (Vijayaraghavan), a truck driver from Kerala and his sidekick Kunjahammed (Augustine). But Appu is killed by the goons of Patel. Vishwanathan flees out from the brothel with Gowri and is followed by Patel and his goons. On other side, Reddy is also after him. Their chase turns more violent as they face several hardships on the path, including many local criminals. But Vishwanathan, after a bloody, long chase, succeeds in saving her by killing both Patel and Reddy.

Reception

This film had an exciting initial pull, as it came just after the huge success of Commissioner. However, this time the screenwriter, Renji Panicker was replaced by Ranjith. The heavy expectations hurt the film, which lacked a strong script, and the film bombed at the box office. Extreme violence was another reason that kept family audiences away from this movie.

Trivia

Cast

External links