Film Career
While interviewing director Shaji Kailas, for a film magazine in 1990, he was impressed by Renji's language and asked him to do a script for him. Renji, who was an active politician since his college days tried out a political satire, Dr. Pasupathy,which turned out to be a super hit. But the success of his debut film failed to bring any recognition to Renji Panicker, whose next venture Akashakottayile Sulthan, in 1991, directed by Jayaraj, with Sreenivasan in the main role, bombed at the box-office. This made Renji to rethink on continuing film as a career. But again, upon the insistence of Shaji Kailas, Renji made another attempt in 1992. Thalastaanam, revolving around campus politics was a phenomenal hit and the huge success marked the beginning of Shaji-Renji combination, which brought out many blockbuster films in the later years.
In the year 1993, Renji penned Sthalathe Pradhana Payyans. Directed by Shaji Kailas, this film was a turning point in the life of Jagadish, who was till then tagged into comic roles. Jagadish played the role of a common man who overnight becomes the home minister of the state. Sthalathe Pradhana Payyans completed 150 days in theaters, establishing Renji Panicker as one of the leading script writers in Malayalam cinema. The success of Sthalathe Pradhana Payyans was followed by Ekalavyan, which got released in the month of May in 1993. Directed again by Shaji Kailas, Ekalavyan was an action thriller revolving around the unholy nexus of drug mafia-godmen and politicians. Appearing in the lead role of a police officer, Suresh Gopi succeeded in establishing himself as the next super star of Malayalam cinema.Ekalavyan successfully completed 150 days in almost all the theaters it got released. This police sage was followed by Mafia, revolving around Bangalore underworld. Directed by Shaji Kailas with Suresh Gopi as hero, released in 1993, Mafia turned out to be another super hit and made Renji the most expensive script-writer in the malyalam film industry.
In 1994, Shaji Kailas and Renji Panicker created a sensation at box office with Commissioner, an out and out police film, which completed a run of 200 days in theaters. Suresh Gopi appearing in the title role, the film turned out to be the biggest grosser of the year. Again Shaji and Renji joined together in 1995, but this time, they had Mammootty as the hero. The King, which was released in the end of 1995, broke seveal records in collections. After the huge success of The King, the duo intentionally parted ways and decided to go alone.
Renji, after a long time wrote a script for another director, when he chose Joshi in 1997. Lelam, another action thriller with Suresh Gopi as the main hero was again super hit at box office adding new feather to Renji's cap. The same team brought out Pathram in next year. Revolving around print media and the politics surrounding it, this flick is best remembered for its stunning and sparkling dialogues. The continuous run of super hits came to an end in 2001. Renji's combination with Joshi, Dubai bombed at box office. This was followed by Praja another fiasco, though for the first time Mohanlal appeared in a Renji film. The back to back set backs forced Renji to take a break for three years. In 2005, he hit-back with Bharatchandran IPS the sequel of Commissioner, released in 1994. Bharatchandran IPS was also the directorial debut of Renji Panicker. Apart from directing, he also co-produced this film. This film crossed 100 day run in all major centers and gave a rebirth to Suresh Gopi who was going through the dark days of his career. Renji's second directorial attempt was Roudram released in 2008, with Mammootty in the main role, Another police story, this film was also a huge success at box office. Renji's next project is The King & the Commissioner in which mammootty and suresh gopi playing the roles of Joseph Alex and Bharathchandran (their famous roles in the past films) for another time, After a gap of 16 years Shaji reunites with renji in this film.The movie cannot be considered as a clean hit if considering the success of its prequel got.It was below average and was declared a flop in the box office.
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