Ronth ending explained: What becomes of SI Yohanan and Dinnath in Shahi Kabir’s police procedural?

Ronth ending explained: A night out with the Kerala Police – that’s what best describes former cop turned writer-director Shai Kabir’s latest directorial venture, Ronth, which has now dropped on OTT

Ronth on OTT

Malayalam actor-filmmaker Dileesh Pothan has played police officers several times in films like Gangster, Aby, Pokkiri Simon, Kumbalangi Nights, Unda, among others. But cop-turned-filmmaker Shahi Kabir’s Ronth is, perhaps, the most realistic of the lot. In the film, which is now streaming on JioHotstar (via OTTplay Premium too), Dileesh is Grade SI Yohanan, a seasoned cop, who smells trouble from a mile away and knows just how to sidestep it, while also discharging his duties under morally ambiguous circumstances.

He is paired with rookie cop Dinnath (Roshan Mathews), with the latter unsure what to make of his superior officer’s policing, as they go about attending to various issues during their night patrol sessions. The turning point in the tale revolves around a missing person’s report they investigate. A young girl’s gone missing, according to her father, but when Yohanan and Dinnath turn up to speak to the family, they are firmly told that there’s been a misunderstanding and that she’s at home after all.

Unbeknown to Yohanan and Dinnath at the time, the family was actually on the hunt for the girl Jincy, the boy they suspect she eloped with, as well as her friends Arun and Naveen, who they suspect helped her get away. Jincy’s brother and friends find both Arun and Naveen and torture them for information about her whereabouts, but Naveen manages to get away from them, albeit after sustaining an injury during his escape.

Also read: Ronth movie review: Shahi Kabir’s grounded cop drama echoes Training Day with a conscience

When Naveen is later found dead, the story is then twisted around to implicate Yohanan and Dinnath as Jincy’s family’s accomplices, after CCTV footage turns up of the duo having conversations with her brother, as well as a call recording of Yohanan offering to help them secure Jincy’s return. Yohanan, of course, knows that if he holds his ground with his version of events, he can get out of trouble, but the gullible Dinnath falls for the suggestion that his colleague would likely throw him under the bus to save his skin.

When Dinnath realizes that Yohanan had his back all the while and that his action names them as accused in Naveen’s murder, he makes a mad dash from the police station in an attempt to flee, only to get run-over by a speeding vehicle. The film ends abruptly with Yohanan and the other culprits being driven away to be produced in court.

Also read: Ronth wins applause upon OTT release, but some netizens slam ‘problematic’ film after Nayattu

That there was no conversation between Yohanan and Dinnath after the news of Naveen’s death broke has been cited as the omission in Shahi Kabir’s writing, in his attempt to be able to show that the system is rotten from within. Had they spoken to each other and got their stories straight, Dinnath would not have been manipulated or ended dead.

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