What Is the Story About?
Roy, who is diagnosed with a special delusional mental condition withdraws from social life and finds it very difficult to engage with anyone except his wife Teena, a journalist and writer who he dearly loves. Teena takes clues from her husband’s dreams and goes missing while searching for a veteran writer.
Performances?
Suraj Venjaramoodu as Roy is the head, body and Tail of Roy. The actor sinks his tooth and nail while playing a character who has a delusional retrospective of what makes reality, dreams and imagination. Every scene of his oozes the conviction he has in his acting credentials. Needless to say, his moments of confusion is an act of beauty.
Analysis
Writer-Director Sunil Ibrahim‘s ‘Roy’ is a dissection of the myth of normalcy, how conflicts of morality, reality, delusion, dreams and imagination is something beyond the binary realm. With a supremely effective Suraj Venjaramoodu at the centre, the film achieves most of what it sets out for.
Roy begins with a glimpse of Teena’s daily life and her socially awkward husband Roy, visibly much elder than her. She is a strong willed journalist, who also is currently working on her first work of fiction. Scenes hint at a foul-play when Teena is shown to be followed by someone in a car. There are glimpses of unrelated events and scenes from Roy’s point of view hinting at an interplay of dreams and reality.
The writing shows too much of the bond the husband and wife shares, but little about the duo individually. This is when the news of a veteran writer’s missing case hits the headlines. Teena is somehow connected to the writer, but none of the revelations appear on the surface. Taking clues from a dream Roy had a fortnight ago, Teena sets out to investigate more on the writer’s missing case. Tina goes missing and it’s upto Roy to now find his wife who he believes is in danger.
While the idea Roy is based on is very much unique and original, the build-up to the fundamental revelation takes too much of time. The writing spends too much time establishing the social awkwardness of Roy and a supposed mystery revolving around the missing writer and Teena. It’s only past the half-time do we know the actual condition Roy suffers from. However, the proceedings that follow with Roy using his dreams to track his wife down is nicely done. It also helps when Suraj Venjaramoodu’s performance is not just convincing but exceptional. His nuances when he gets to know that the binary between reality and imagination is blurring in his mind, is a sight to behold.
That said, Roy suffers from an abrupt culmination that decelerates the entire film. For a screenplay that takes a chunk of its duration in merely setting the characters up, the climax seems like an amateurish and hurried attempt to end the story before a 2 hour deadline. What the audience is left with after that hasty climax is more questions than answers. This, when the film doesn’t even keep the possibilities open. Some of the supporting cast members appear too disinterested onscreen as well.
In short, Roy has an appreciable concept. The idea of dream-led-investigation is interesting, but the execution ends up being sub-par. Neither the motivation, nor the reasoning, nor the origin gets its due. Nevertheless, Roy can be still watched as it gets the second act right.
Other Artists?
Sija Rose plays Journalist cum writer Teena. She is charming, elegant and also surprisingly shares a warm chemistry with Suraj despite the age gap (that gets addressed in the film). She convincingly pulls off a strong willed, ambitious and curious woman. Shine Tom Chacko doesn’t have much scope in the film as an actor, but it is nice to see the actor in a tamed down and sober role after a string of eccentric roles.
Music and Other Departments?
Munna P.M’s music doesn’t aid the genre and film’s ambitions. That said one of the songs in the album is quite melodious to listen to. The relevance of the song however is questionable. Jayesh Mohan’s cinematography on the other hand is beautiful. The woods and meadows are captured with such eye-pleasing lighting. Sunil Ibrahim’s writing does have flaws, but his conviction in the story definitely deserves a mention.
Highlights?
Core Story
Suraj Venjaramoodu
Drawbacks?
Pace
Hasty Climax
Unanswered Loose Ends
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, In Parts
Will You Recommend It?
Yes
Roy Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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