Inside Ronth: Malayalam actor Roshan Mathew on trauma, truth, and the thankless life of a cop in new thriller

Dubai: Let’s get one thing out of the way: Ronth isn’t your typical cop film. There’s no slow-mo strutting, no glorified beatdowns, no badge-flashing bravado. Instead, you get two men stuck in a jeep all night, answering distress calls, losing a bit of their soul with each stop — and it’s absolutely riveting.

Roshan Mathew, who plays Dinnath — a freshly minted community police officer in this gut-punch of a Malayalam thriller — puts it bluntly: “I’m not a fan,” he says about his character’s senior partner Yohannan (Dileesh Pothan). “But they don’t have a choice. They’re stuck together.”

Directed by Shahi Kabir (Joseph, Nayattu), Ronth is a stripped-down cop procedural that stays unflinchingly grounded. It begins with a jeep, a night shift, and two mismatched men forced to coexist.

“It’s structured like an anthology,” Roshan explains.

“Each scene is triggered by a new call. And the tone of each one — comedy, horror, tragedy — is completely different. But what these two men carry is cumulative. They’re dragging every unresolved emotion into the next stop.”

And it shows. In my review, I called Ronth “a raw, relentless cop drama that hits hard.” Because it does. Not with explosions, but with silences that sting, with breakdowns that are unspectacular but deeply human.

Roshan’s Dinnath is still soft around the edges — new to the system, still figuring it out.

His partner, played brilliantly by seasoned filmmaker and actor Pothan, is all weathered cynicism.

“Dinnath is still affected by everything he sees,” says Roshan. “But Dileesh’s character has stopped reacting. He’s been through it all. That contrast between us is the heart of the film.”

And then comes that moment — a single line that lands like a slap: “You’re just a driver.” Spoken by the senior cop, in front of civilians, post-altercation. “It’s ego. It’s shame. It’s helplessness,” Roshan says.

“There’s nothing he can do. That’s the brilliance of Shahi’s writing. It’s not just what’s said — it’s when and where it’s said.”

The film’s treatment of police brutality is nuanced, too. “People are scared of cops here,” Roshan admits. “We’ve all grown up with that. But when I prepped for the role, I went on patrol with real cops. And I saw the other side — sometimes they’re just outnumbered and doing what they can. But the image we’ve shown in films for decades? That lingers.”

Roshan isn’t looking to romanticise it. He just wants honesty. And Ronth has plenty of that — along with a performance from Dileesh Pothan that Roshan calls “a masterclass in anchoring a scene.” “He never plays director on set, but when he speaks, his notes are pure gold.”

Despite not being a typical star vehicle, Ronth is getting a wide UAE release — a rare feat for a grounded, character-driven drama.

“Malayalam cinema’s global reputation wasn’t built on blockbusters alone,” Roshan says. “It was the honest, small films that travelled. I’m happy Ronth gets that same chance.”

And what about box office pressure?

“I’ve stayed out of the numbers game as much as I can,” he says. “I’m freelancing, I act. That’s my job. All I can control is the work I do. Everything else is bonus.”

He speaks with the kind of clarity and calm confidence that’s rare in an industry obsessed with the next hit.

“I’m at a point where I try to get most of my experience out of the filmmaking process itself,” he says. “Everything else — the reception, the numbers — is a bonus. When a film I love doesn’t get its due, it hurts. But I’ve made peace with the fact that those aren’t things I can control.”

And then he drops the mic: “You’re not just your last film. Everything you’ve done before still counts. If not now, it’ll matter later.”

In a sea of formulaic content, Ronth hits hard because it dares to be quiet. Because it gives you broken men, not bulletproof heroes. Because it trusts its audience to feel uncomfortable. And because Roshan Mathew — with his beautifully restrained performance and absolutely lethal one-liners — proves yet again that some actors don’t need to shout to leave a mark.