Shankar, the famed Tamil director, is known for the outlandish films he’s made over the years. He made commercially viable films that worked for the most part because of the subject matter they tackled. However, his writing and screenplay became redundant. Indian, Kadhalan, Boys, Anniyan, and Nayak are some of his very popular films from the 1990s and 2000s. Game Changer is a Telugu-language film about an IAS officer, who goes on to become chief minister of the state but sadly has to face a lot of obstacles.
Spoilers Ahead
Why was Ram Nandan IAS after corrupt businessmen?
The movie Game Changer began with the current CM of Andhra Pradesh, Satyamurthy, experiencing a nightmare about a faceless woman and her child. He was hospitalized for a cardiac arrest, following which his sons, Bobbili Munimanikyam and Bobbili Mopidevi, fought to be next in line for the post of Chief Minister, since in India political seats still are functionally hierarchical rather than democratically elected. Satyamurthy survives the heart attack and continues being the leader of the state, to Bobbili Mopidevi’s dismay. Ram Nandan was the new IAS officer in the city of Visakhapatnam and asked his team to round up corrupt businessmen. This move was made so he could showcase his power and prove no one was above the law. He caught two rich businessmen red-handed, which alerted Bobbili Mopidevi’s henchmen, who ran illegal mining businesses.
How did Ram Nandan become an IAS officer?
Ram Nandan, at a wedding party, revealed that he’d once been a medical student with a long list of anger issues and got in trouble as such. He met Deepika in college and fell in love. She, however, asked him to channel his anger into something productive and apply for the IAS. As an IAS officer he would be able to channel the anger into positive work for the upliftment of the society. Taking her words seriously, Dr. Ram Nandan applied for civil services, but he did not clear the exam and chose IPS. As an IPS officer, he went after every bad element of the city but lost touch with Deepika, who left town. He eventually appeared for IAS again and cleared it and started searching for her to prove himself worthy of her love.
Who was Parvathy?
Deepika was a doctor who ran an old age home and introduced Ram Nandan to Parvathy, a senile old woman who kept writing requests to the current CM. The story from this point escalated since Parvathy and the current CM had a past, and on seeing her at his rally, he had to hear her out. The CM’s angry and entitled son Bobbili Mopidevi misbehaved with Parvathy and, as a result, got slapped on a public stage by Ram Nandan. His anger could not be contained anymore since he could not stand the sight of an old woman being mistreated for no fault of her own. Bobbili Mopidevi, being the brat minister in his father’s cabinet, took the humiliation to heart as expected, setting him up to be the big villain of the film.
What was Satyamurthy’s dying wish?
Satyamurthy sadly had another massive heart attack, and his son Bobbili Mopidevi begged him to make him his successor. A power-hungry Bobbili Mopidevi acted on his impulse and impatience since he dreamed of becoming a chief minister of the state. He killed his father without giving it a second thought and declared himself the next CM based on his support in the party. Bobbili Mopidevi’s first order of business was to kill Dr. Ram Nandan IAS, in revenge for slapping him on a public stage. He wanted to get rid of people who were against him or force them to join him and rally to his support. Just minutes before Ram Nandan was to be killed, the last video of the late Satyamurthy was leaked. It was assumed his right-hand man, Sabha, wanted to do the right thing, which was to fulfill Satyamurthy’s last wish. Satyamurthy declared Dr. Ram Nandan IAS to be the next chief minister of the state, and wanted him to burn his pyre. By this move he sidelined his two sons and did not acknowledge any of their requests, which further fueled Bobbili Mopidevi’s anger.
Who killed Ram Nandan’s father?
A flashback sequence revealed that Dr. Ram Nandan’s real father was Appana, a socialist leader, and he was married to Parvathy. The senile lady he met at the old age home turned out to be Ram Nandan’s biological mother, but there was nothing explained on how and when he was adopted by his foster parents. Appana had been keen on fighting for the people when his supporters urged him to start a political party that would run without the need for outside money from rich businessmen.
Appana was an idealist, but his growth as a leader was being stunted because of his stutter. A leader with charisma but a minor vocal disability was not the right branding for his party, and he chose a young Satyamurthy to be the voice of the party. As Satyamurthy’s popularity grew, he became power hungry; he went against the ideals of his political party. He took bribes from rich businessmen and killed Appana to stop him from going to the press. The socialist Appana had planned to dissolve the party, but he was outnumbered, and his heavily pregnant wife, Parvathy, disappeared from the town, only to reappear to haunt a much older CM Satyamurthy, who we assume remained undefeated as a political leader.
How did Ram Nandan tackle Bobbili Mopidevi?
This tale of betrayal was shared by Sabha with Ram Nandan, as she felt the younger bureaucrat had the right to know of his roots. Satyamurthy was in guilt; hence he handed over the rule of the state to the person he deemed fit. Turns out Bobbili Mopidevi and his older brother Bobbili Munimanikyam were Appana’s sons from Parvathy, and Satyamurthy had raised them as his own. Sadly, both turned out to be vile, greedy, and imbecilic; hence Ram Nandan was the right choice according to the deceased leader. There was no mention of how Ram Nandan was alright with going against his own older brothers and never revealing the bond they shared. The stage was set for the fight between Ram Nandan and Bobbili Mopidevi, who had the support of Bobbili Munimanikyam from the start.
Ram Nandan was removed from the post of CM as he was a government official, and as a state cabinet minister, Bobbili Mopidevi did not accept his resignation letter. From this point on, the fight between the two rivals was based on technicalities in the rule book. Ram Nandan was not fired since he had the support of many IAS officers from across the country, somewhat out of nowhere. There was no explanation how Ram Nandan became a countrywide sensation who could not be fired or transferred to a godforsaken posting. Required suspension of disbelief was at its peak since the film was headed towards the climax; a lot of random events took place after reelection was announced.
Bobbili Mopidevi was taken aback since he had only just taken charge, and he would have to win the people’s mandate to secure his hold on the power again. This was bound to happen, for Ram Nandan was not willing to give up on his quest to be the leader, like his father, who was wronged by his rival’s adopted father. The amount of plot holes in the story was jarring, and there was no end to Bobbili Mopidevi and Dr. Ram Nandan IAS upstaging each other. Since Ram Nandan arrived as a chief election officer only to exact his revenge, he derailed Bobbili Mopidevi’s campaign continuously and consistently. Bobbili Mopidevi also tried to put Ram Nandan on the back foot since Sabha had reinstated Appana’s political party. Bobbili Mopidevi argued Dr. Ram Nandan would have a conflict of interest if the former’s party lost in the election. This was one of the many obstacles both tried to put up, hoping one of them would win this battle to become the next Chief Minister of the state.
Did Ram Nandan become the chief minister?
The movie had become predictable at this point, since the typical good vs. bad story was put across. It was not that hard to guess who would win this game of thrones. Bobbili Mopidevi and his older brother tried to disrupt the counting so that a re-election could be announced. Bobbili Mopidevi was only giving himself time to relocate Ram Nandan so that the re-election process would go ahead as per his rules and guidelines. The back and forth between the two came to a close after the election, and the big question remained to be answered: Who would win to become the chief minister of the state? The movie was stretched to the point that the back and forth led to Bobbili Mopidevi smashing most of the voting machines to avoid any of the votes being counted. It was as if he knew he could not convince the people to make him their leader of state and tried to outsmart Ram Nandan and make him look like a bad man.
Game Changer ended with a physical altercation between Bobbili Mopidevi and Ram Nandan. The crescendo was the hardcore typical commercial cinema style fight where everyone knew who would win. Ram Nandan, who had learned to control his anger, brought out his worst side with the intention of killing Bobbili Mopidevi, who technically had nothing to do with his biological father’s death. He controlled his anger, as promised to Deepika, and let Bobbili Mopidevi go. Bobbili Mopidevi was a state minister, and Ram Nandan’s murdering him would land him in jail. However, there was no conclusion on who won the election and how Ram Nandan was declared the Chief Minister of the state. Game Changer’s ending was random with an inconclusive narrative about what happened to Bobbili Mopidevi and his brother. Since this was commercial cinema at its worst, these tropes were acceptable with no questions asked about logic.