''Bheeshmar'' is a 2003 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by actor

Ranjith Ranjit or Renjith may refer to: Religion * Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam (born 1966), Sri Lankan Tamil Catholic priest, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Colombo * Malcolm Ranjith (born 1947), Sri Lankan Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, C ...

, making his directorial debut. The film stars Ranjith and

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, with Rami Reddy,

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and Baby Prahasitha playing supporting roles. The film, produced by Ranjith's wife

Priya Raman Priya Raman (born 18 June 1974) is an Indian actress and television producer. She has appeared in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada cinema and in television serials of Malayalam and Tamil languages. Her first film was the Rajnikanth-produced ...

, had musical score by

S. P. Venkatesh S. P. Venkatesh (also credited as Sangeetharajan; born 5 March 1955) is an Indian music director and composer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He was at his prime in the late 80s and 90s, being reputed for his background scores and songs ...

and was released on 27 September 2003.

Plot

Bheeshmar (

) is an honest and upright police officer. He is married to Gowri (

), and they have a six-year-old girl named Pappathi (Baby Prahasitha). Bheeshmar is transferred to a new department which is filled with corrupt police officers. Soon, Bheeshmar clashes with policemen Aadhi (

) and Dhandapani (

), Assistant Commissioner Singampuli (

), and the heartless politician R. K. ( Rami Reddy). Later, Bheeshmar has been suspended for beating up Singampuli in court. Afterwards, the police arrested Bheeshmar for a crime he did not commit, and he is put in jail. Gowri sells her kidney for the advocate's expenses to release him. After that, Bheeshmar ends up fighting with rowdies while bringing the medicine for his wife. He is not able to make it at the right time, so his wife dies in the hospital. The unemployed Bheeshmar turns berserk and kills all of his enemies. He is again arrested and is brought by a police van. In the traffic signal, he sees his daughter begging for food. She tries to run towards his van, and meanwhile, an accident happens to her. Bheeshmar wakes up screaming with his daughter nearby; he realizes that it was a nightmare. At that point, he understands that the evil in the society is way more powerful than him. He then burns his police uniform and decides to start a new life with Pappathi.

Cast

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack, released in 2003, features 1 tracks with lyrics written by

Snehan Snehan (born Sivaselvam) is a Tamil poet, politician, lyricist, and actor who has worked in the Tamil film industry. In the year 2018 he entered politics with Makkal Needhi Maiam and contested in the Lok Sabha election. In 2021 Tamil Nadu Legis ...

Reception

Critical response

Malathi Rangarajan of

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

said "In the area of dialogue, he (Ranjith) scores. As a hero he fills the bill. It is in the other departments that he is found wanting". Sify wrote : " Ranjith has perpetuated so many stereotypes in this flick ..The fatal flaw in the film is the screenplay, which is screeching and at times tries to be a third rate tearjerker" and said : "the censors have butchered the film and in most of the scenes dialogue cuts make the film jarring". Reviewer Balaji Balasubramaniam said "It is a credible first effort and credit goes to Ranjith for not resorting to unnecessary elements like romance or a comedy track to try to make the movie more entertaining. But ultimately, the movie turns out to be too predictable and violent to make an impression" and stated : "Ranjith the actor scores the most points when compared to the other responsibilities he has taken on". Entertainment portal Bizhat.com gave the film a negative review : "The honest police - goondas story in nothing new to Tamil audience. Having chosen this subject Ranjith could have taken more care in the narration. The screenplay lacks consistency".

Box office

The film became a flop in the box office. Following the failure of the film, Ranjith was not able to produce his next own film because of the lack of fund. Ranjith then ventured to do a couple of character roles in Malayalam and Tamil films.

References

{{Reflist 2003 films 2000s Tamil-language films Fictional portrayals of the Tamil Nadu Police Fictional Indian police officers Indian police films 2003 directorial debut films