Ronth: An Eye-Opening Police Drama

Ronth (2025/India) Movie is a thought-provoking police procedural drama from Kerala, India. Notably, the Malayalam language title “Ronth” colloquially means the police officials on night patrol duty. As the movie’s name suggests, the story focuses on the night shift duty of two police officials. But then tragedy hits hard?

It is not very often that we come across a realistic and humanistic tale that sincerely depicts the demanding job of police personnel in India. In other words, this pragmatic and matter-of-fact movie takes us on a journey into the lives of two police officials. And the film’s story primarily focuses on their one night of duty.

“Ronth” Is An Eye-Opening Police Drama That Delivered The Gut Punch, & Left Us With Heavy Hearts

Spoiler Free Review of the Ronth (2025/India) Movie

The introduction

Of late, we have been watching quite a few entertaining and engrossing Malayalam movies. And the “Ronth” movie is no different. The glamorous movie industries across the world have usually treated the “Cops” as some kind of superheroes. But in reality, is it so? No, we do not think so. At the end of the day, the “Police Officials” are humans too. This movie honestly illustrates that even the most routine kind of daily policing duties are challenging and risk-prone. Especially, the night patrol duties. Where the nights hide unforeseen threats.

No wonder most of the police personnel work under high pressure, under a lot of stress. Besides, the lines between personal and professional lives often get blurred, with devastating consequences.

Writer & director Shahi Kabir weaves another riveting cop drama

Kudos to the writer and director Shahi Kabir for sharing the startling “Ronth” drama. And we expected nothing less from the (India) National Award Winner writer Shahi. We have also watched the “Officer On Duty” movie written by Shahi Kabir recently, and we shall review it soon. Now, let us come back to the review of the “Ronth” movie. It is worth noting that Shahi Kabir has ten years of working experience in the police force. As of now, the policeman Shahi is on sabbatical. But, in this time off from the police force, Shahi Kabir is shining brightly as an award-winning screenplay writer and film director.

So, his “Ronth” movie provides us with a rare insight into the lives and work of police personnel in India. Moreover, it also brings to light the existing lacuna in the present-day policing system of India. The cracks in the police system can be traced back to its British colonial roots. So the corruption dominates the police here.

Realistic portrayal of the cops by Dileesh Pothan & Roshan Mathew

We have seen so many buddy-cop dramas in movies from around the world. But despite the presence of two lead actors, Dileesh Pothan (SI Yohannan) and Roshan Mathew (CPO Dinanath), this is not a typical hero-dominated buddy-cop drama. Instead, in this film, we have a character of a seasoned and vastly experienced SI Yohannan, immaculately portrayed by senior actor Dileesh Pothan. On the other hand, the novice and inexperienced CPO Dinanath is skillfully played by a young actor, Roshan Mathew. With their admirable performances, both Dileesh and Roshan have managed to bring these cop stories alive.

The conclusion

The entire team of the “Ronth” must be praised for recreating the tension and realism of modern policing in India. However, in the first half of the movie, it tries very hard to hold the interest of the viewers. Therefore, as movie watchers, we had to show a lot of patience and understanding to keep watching it. It should be noted that, except for the last half an hour of this film, the major portion of the movie is fairly slow-paced. But the fascinating and captivating ending of this movie makes it worth one’s while.

The ending of this movie certainly shocked the core of its viewers. It raises so many key questions, but can it force and usher in a positive change in the contemporary policing system of India? Well, we doubt it. However, the “Ronth” movie is still worth an effort, for educating the common public. Well done.

FM Rating

FM Rating of the Ronth

3.65/5

Poster

Key Details

Genre	Drama
Original Language	Malayalam
Dubbed Languages	Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada
Duration	2 Hours 2 Minutes
Writer	Shahi Kabir
Director	Shahi Kabir
Music Composer	Anil Johnson
Cinematographer	Manesh Madhavan
Main Cast	Dileesh Pothan (SI Yohannan), Roshan Mathew (CPO Dinanath), Kumaradas TN {GD (ASI) Sadanandan}, Sajai Sebastian (Grade SI Anil), Lakshmi Menon (Lakshmi), Carmen S Mathew (Jincy), Arun Cherukavil (DYSP Jacob J), etc.
Network	JioHotstar

Trailer & Synopsis | Official

Two patrol officers, a veteran cop SI* Yohannan (Dileesh Pothan) and his rookie partner CPO* Dinanath (Roshan Mathew), face mounting tensions during a night shift as they navigate dangerous calls while confronting their strained partnership and personal demons. Intriguingly, their usual night patrol takes a sinister turn as small cases pull them into a deadly web of crime before dawn.

SI* Sub Inspector
CPO* Civil Police Officer (Constables &/or Head Constables)

Also, check out the FM review of two Malayalam movies, "Kishkindha Kandam" and "Officer On Duty", in our Focus Magazine. 

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Poster and Featured Image of the Ronth (2025/India) Movie are credited to JioHotstar.