Member Rameshan 9aam Ward

Certain movies don’t evoke any sort of excitement in you, and they won’t even give you a headache. Member Rameshan 9aam Ward, directed by Aby Treesa Paul and Anto Jose Periera, is one such movie. There is a naïve apolitical aspect to the politics of the movie. But the narrative here is so unexciting that it won’t end up being a significant talking point. Member Rameshan 9aam Ward is far too usual, and at no point, the story looks compelling.

Rameshan is this young guy who works under Thomas Komban as a painter. He is a politically neutral fellow who associates with the ruling party and the opposition. At one point, to Rameshan’s surprise, he was made the candidate for the ward election, and the person who stood against him was none other than his boss Thomas Komban. The result of that election and the new life that happens to Rameshan after that election is the focus of Member Rameshan 9aam Ward.

The idea is to show that the political arena in our country is hugely corrupted, and honest people won’t be able to sustain much longer in this game. But both Aby Treesa Paul and Anto Jose Periera are struggling to find layers and make a solid story out of this scenario. You do get some glimpses of conflicts and dilemmas. Still, the screenplay is going after some other tracks to make the movie more eventful. The sudden tone shift of the film after a sexual harassment issue gets raised against Rameshan’s party member was jarring. There is a court case regarding a real estate deal done by Rameshan, which kind of gets ignored in the whole process.

The movies in which Arjun Ashokan had played character roles offered him something to showcase his range. In Member Rameshan, it’s more like a typical boy next door character. Chemban Vinod Jose as the brotherly Thomas Komban was okay. Sabumon was also fine as the antagonist. Indrans is slowly becoming this go-to choice as the supportive father. Gayathri Ashok, Shabareesh Varma, Sminu Sijo, Mamukkoya, Sini Abraham, etc., are the other major names in the cast. Just like Upacharapoorvam Gunda Jayan, Johny Antony is there as a pointless character created just for the sake of comedy.

The film’s writing doesn’t have a convincing structure to show its theme. The conflict that arises at the halfway mark is something that we can guess, and the political drama that happens afterward is also a bit sloppy. There are numerous subplots in the film that doesn’t blend well with the story. They want to make it a satire, and at the same time, they want to make it look like a family drama too. This oscillation between genres is confusing for the viewer. Kailas Menon has made the music for the film, and Alare is already a huge success.

Member Rameshan 9aam Ward might not be an annoying comedy. But the film looks interesting at no point. I would say it’s a movie with zero takeaways with some discrete moments of lighter laughter included in an ordinary-looking script. Member Rameshan 9aam Ward is a movie with a simple idea and a vague script.