Rorschach (film)

Rorschach (transl. Rorschach test) is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Nissam Basheer and produced by Mammootty under Mammootty Kampany.[2] It stars Mammootty, Sharafudheen, Jagadish, Grace Antony, Bindu Panicker, Kottayam Nazeer, Sanju Sivram and Asif Ali. The film's music was composed by Midhun Mukundan and cinematography was handled by Nimish Ravi. In the film, an NRI businessman sets on a mission to exact vengeance from someone who has destroyed his life.

Rorschach
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNissam Basheer
Written bySameer Abdul
Produced byMammootty
Starring
CinematographyNimish Ravi
Edited byKiran Das
Music byMidhun Mukundan
Production
company
Mammootty Kampany
Distributed byWayfarer Films
Release date
  • 7 October 2022 (2022-10-07) (India)
Running time
150 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam
Box office₹40 crore[1]

Principal photography began on 30 March 2022 at Chalakudy.[3]

Rorschach was released on 7 October 2022 and received positive reviews from critics. The film became a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

Luke Anthony is an NRI businessman in Dubai who goes to Kerala with his pregnant wife Sofiya for a vacation. While travelling through the forest, they have a road accident. Upon gaining consciousness, Luke finds that Sofiya is missing and reports it to the local police. The cops close the case as they deduce that Sofiya was killed by a tiger. Luke decides to find her on his own and stumbles upon Balan, who asks him to purchase his house on the outskirts of the forest. Balan tells Luke that the house was owned by his elder son Dileep Balan, who died a few months ago in an accident. After selling the house, Balan leaves with the money in order to leave his wife Seetha Balan and young son for his second family. However, Balan is found murdered and the money missing. When asked by the cops, Seetha and Anil deny knowing anything about the sale of the house or the money.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Sofiya was murdered by Dilip in a house robbery and with no opportunity for revenge, Luke stays there as a semi-retreat. However, Luke starts feeling Dilip's presence in the house and deduces that Dileep's spirit is present there and Seetha's confirmation about the same gives him the vigour for revenge. Luke meets Balan's son-in-law Shashankan and suggests they investigate Balan's murder and the missing money, but Shashankan refuses as he has Balan's money. However, Shashankan finds his storeroom burnt and the money missing. It is revealed that Luke retrieved the money and set fire to the storeroom. Shashankan reveals his suspicion that Luke was responsible for the incident to Anil. It is revealed that Anil learnt about Balan's plan to leave him and Seetha, where he killed him and kept the money in the storeroom on the advice of Shashankan.

At night, Anil and Shashankan break into Luke's house to steal the money. Luke subdues them, but they manage to escape. While escaping, Anil gets into an accident. Luke helps the family with the medical expenses and also convinces Dilip's widow Sujatha to agree with transfer of Seetha's shares of the cashew nut processing factory and merge their businesses. Sathisan gets suspicious that Luke attacked his girlfriend Ammu (who works at Luke's house as a domestic worker) and tries to kill him, but learns that Ammu left for her village and Luke compensated her for her friendliness with the money he retrieved from Balan. Luke is admitted to the hospital, where he tries to flirt with Sujatha. Sujatha learns that the skull from Dileep's corpse has been stolen. Luke seeks permission to marry Sujatha from Sujatha's mother, who agrees despite of Sujatha's appeals.

After the marriage, Seetha seals down Sujatha's factory and Luke plays a key role in it. A head constable named Ashraf starts investigating about Luke's past, where he learns about Dileep's crimes and the suffering caused by him to Luke with his friend Shafi and deduces that Luke came prepared for vengeance, but is now staying there to torture Dileep's family as he cannot get his hands on Dileep, who is already dead. Learning about the robbery and that Dileep's family might have money left from robbing Luke, Ashraf demands a hefty bribe from Seetha to not tarnish Dileep's reputation, but Seetha kills him by poisoning his drink and makes Anil and Shashankan to bury him in the backyard. Sujatha gets fed up with Luke and leaves him. Later, Sujatha learns about Dileep's crimes, which makes her to hate Dileep and burns down the factory. Seetha visits Luke and reveals that both Dilip and Anil were following her orders to gain more money by committing crimes.

Luke realizes Seetha should be killed as her sons were just following her orders. Anil and his men heads to Luke's house and attacks him, but Luke kills Anil and Seetha manages to escape. Sujatha complains to the police about Dilip and Anil. Shashankan reveals Ashraf's murder by the family. Seetha is arrested, while Luke surrenders to the police. In the local prison, Luke learns that Seetha has committed suicide, which makes him happy after knowing that he finally avenged Sofiya's death and extinguished Dilip's spiritual presence by destroying all his physical ties.

Cast
  • Mammootty as Luke Antony
  • Asif Ali as Dileep Kumar Balan
  • Sharafudheen as Satheeshan Madathil
  • Jagadeesh as Head Constable Ashraf
  • Grace Antony as Sujatha, Dileep's wife and Luke Antony's second wife
  • Bindu Panicker as Seetha G Balan, Dileep and Anil's mother
  • Kottayam Nazeer as Shashankan, brother-in-law of dileep and Anil
  • Sanju Sivram as Anil Kumar Balan, Dileep's younger brother
  • Ira Noor as Sofiya Luke, Luke's wife
  • George Abraham as Constable Aby
  • Priyamvada Krishnan as Ammu, a Local Prostitute
  • Riyas Narmakala as Soman
  • Mani Shornur as Balan, Dileep and Anil's father
  • Jordi Poonjar as CI John
  • Jimmi Joseph as Constable Sini
  • Sreeja Ravi as Lekha, Sujatha's mother
  • Mohan Raj as Vishvanathan, Sujatha's father
  • Zeenath as Ambika Madathil, Satheeshan's mother
  • Geethi Sangeetha as Nurse Sini
  • Gilu Joseph as constable Midhuna
  • Babu Annur as SI Saji

Production

Development

Rorschach is the second direction of Nissam Basheer, after Kettyolaanu Ente Malakha. The film is produced by Mammootty under the banner Mammootty Kampany, with NM Badusha as co-producer. The film is written by Sameer Abdul. Shaji Naduvil is the art director and Prashanth Narayan is the production controller of the film.[4][5]

Filming

Principal photography began on 30 March 2022 at Chalakudy. Mammootty joined the sets from 3 April.[6] After the completion of the shoot in Kerala by mid-June, the team moved to Dubai for the final schedule.[7] On 1 July 2022, the makers announced that filming has been completed.[8]

Music

Midhun Mukundan composed songs and scores for the film, which marks his debut in Malayalam cinema.[9]

Marketing

Global audio launch of the movie has been conducted at Doha.[10]

Release

Theatrical

The film was released on 7 October 2022 in theatres.[11]

Home media

The digital rights of the film is acquired by Disney+ Hotstar and started streaming from 11 November 2022. While, the satellite rights of the film is owned by Asianet. [12]

Reception

Box office

On its opening day, Rorschach’ has raked in almost ₹2.5 crore (US$310,000) and earned ₹5 crore (US$630,000) gross worldwide, which is the highest rating for a recent Experimental film in Malayalam.[13]After running successfully for 14 days, the film manage to collect a world wide gross of ₹39 crore (US$4.9 million) of ₹15 crore (US$1.9 million) budget.[14]

Critical response

Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express gave the film 4/5, writing that, 'Mammootty magnificently embodies the psychological condition of a man with bottomless vengeance'.[15] The News Minute rated the film 3.5/5, and found the film to be 'dark & interesting', further writing that 'director Nissam puts his powerful women characters in the ordinary garbs of village women, behaving like the typical mother or grieving wife, but exposing their depths when the time comes'.[16] S.R. Praveen of The Hindu found the film to be 'an effective psychological thriller that has its imperfections, just like the test that it draws its name from, but it is nevertheless an intriguing experience'.[17] Soundarya Athimuthu of The Quint wrote, 'deploying a compelling visual-storytelling and oscillating between the past and the present in a smooth fashion, Rorschach promises an immersive experience if you are willing to pay the full-attention it deserves'.[18] Princy Alexander of Onmanorama found the film to 'hit all the right notes, except in the end', though she praised Mammootty by writing that 'his movements are swift, the mysterious aura is intact and the dialogues are enough to thrill you thrill you till the end', & adding that his achievement onscreen is 'pure brilliance'.[19] Times of India rated 4 on 5 and praised the layered screenplay and performances of lead actors.[20]

References
  1. "Mammootty gifts Rolex watch to Asif Ali at Rorschach success meet, mentions Kamal Haasan's Rolex gift to Suriya". Hindustan Times. 8 December 2022.
  2. "Mammootty's Rorschach Is An Intense, Violent Action Film, Says Reports". Filmibeat. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  3. "Mammootty - Nissam Basheer's thriller titled 'Rorschach'". Times of India. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  4. "Watch: Mammootty turning 'Rorschach'". Times of India. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  5. "Mammootty's thriller 'Rorschach' to hit theatres on October 7". OnManorama. Retrieved 3 October 2022."
  6. "Mammootty - Nissam Basheer's upcoming thriller starts rolling". Times of India. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  7. "Mammootty's 'Rorschach' wraps up its Kerala shoot, next schedule planned in Dubai". Times of India. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  8. Mammooty Kampany [@MKampanyOffl] (30 June 2022). "Pack Up @RorschachMovie" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 July 2022 – via Twitter.
  9. "Mammootty's 'Rorschach' wraps up shoot in Dubai; film aims for an Onam release". Times of India. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  10. "ചോദ്യങ്ങളും ഉത്തരങ്ങളും സെൻസർ ചെയ്യാനാവില്ല, സാമാന്യ ധാരണയാണ് വേണ്ടത്; അഭിമുഖവിവാദത്തിൽ മമ്മൂട്ടി". Mathrubhumi. 2 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  11. "Mammootty's thriller 'Rorschach' to hit theatres on October 7". OnManorama. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  12. "Malayalam film 'Rorschach' OTT Release Date: Mammootty's Rorschach to stream on Disney+ Hotstar from November 11". 7 November 2022.
  13. "Rorschach' box office collection day 1". Times of India. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  14. "Mammootty gifts Rolex watch to Asif Ali at Rorschach success meet, mentions Kamal Haasan's Rolex gift to Suriya". Hindustan Times. 8 December 2022.
  15. "Rorschach movie review: Mammootty's terrific performance finds a match in Bindu Panicker". The Indian Express. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  16. "Rorschach review: Mammootty's thriller is dark and interesting". The News Minute. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  17. Praveen, S. r (7 October 2022). "'Rorschach' movie review: Mammootty's psychological thriller is intriguing but imperfect". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  18. Athimuthu, Soundarya (8 October 2022). "'Rorschach' Review: Mammootty Steals the Show in This Suspense Thriller". TheQuint. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  19. "Movie Review | Rorschach hits all the right notes, except in the end". OnManorama. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  20. "Rorschach Movie Review: A layered psychological-philosophical thriller", The Times of India, retrieved 19 November 2022
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