Patriot editor Rahul Radhakrishnan says negative reviews feel ‘like a personal attack’
'Patriot' has faced significant backlash despite its star cast, with its editor highlighting the impact of negative online reviews on the film's team and acknowledging its box office performance, with overseas collections outperforming domestic takings.
'Patriot' has faced significant backlash despite its star cast, with its editor highlighting the impact of negative online reviews on the film's team and acknowledging its box office performance, with overseas collections outperforming domestic takings.
'Patriot' has faced significant backlash despite its star cast, with its editor highlighting the impact of negative online reviews on the film's team and acknowledging its box office performance, with overseas collections outperforming domestic takings.
When Patriot was announced, the Mahesh Narayanan directorial immediately carried the weight of expectation. A political thriller bringing together Mammootty and Mohanlal, while also featuring Fahadh Faasil in a crucial role, was always going to invite intense scrutiny. But days after its release, conversation around the film has become as much about the backlash as the movie itself.
The film opened to sharply divided reactions online, with viewers debating everything from its pacing and runtime to Mohanlal’s screen presence and Fahadh Faasil’s performance. While some praised the film’s ambition and political undertones, others felt the second half lacked the impact of the first.
Now, editor Rahul Radhakrishnan has responded to the criticism, admitting that the negativity surrounding the film has been difficult for the team to process.
Speaking to Onmanorama, Rahul admitted that the harsh reactions surrounding the film have been difficult for the team to deal with. “It hurts to see negative comments about a film that so much work has gone into”, he said. “I still believe Malayali audiences will support good cinema. But some of the criticism felt deeply personal. When people put out two-minute negative reviews online, it can instantly overshadow the two years of hard work that hundreds of people have put into a project”.
Rahul also felt that Patriot had been facing negativity even before its theatrical release. “From the release of the first look to every major update that followed, there seemed to be some kind of negative PR around the film”, he said. “I still don’t understand why”.
At the centre of Patriot is Dr Daniel James, played by Mammootty, an official with DRW who finds himself targeted after exposing alleged misuse of surveillance software linked to Union minister JP Sundaram and his son Shakti Sundaram, played by Rajiv Menon and Fahadh Faasil respectively. The film follows Daniel’s attempts to stay hidden while trying to reveal a larger political conspiracy.
Despite the star power and scale, the film’s domestic performance has not entirely matched expectations. According to Sacnilk data till May 6, Patriot has earned ₹24.85 crore in India net collections so far, with the India gross standing at ₹28.83 crore. Overseas collections, however, have been significantly stronger at ₹41.50 crore, pushing the film past the ₹70 crore mark globally. FEUOK president K Vijayakumar acknowledged that audience turnout saw a dip once negative word-of-mouth began spreading online.
“For Patriot, theatres gave the film top priority during its release. In cities like Thiruvananthapuram, it was initially screened across almost all major theatres”, he said. “But after the first few days, the rush began to slow down slightly and some theatres reduced the number of shows. Even then, with films like Vaazha 2 nearing the end of their run, Patriot continues to hold a strong presence across screens”.