This Christmas saw the release of four flicks of various genres hitting the screens of which I had penned my opinion about "Rifle Club" & "Marco". Among the remaining two flicks, one of them happened to be among the most awaited movie of the year, "Barroz" for the obvious reason that it was helmed by Lalettan. The other one was from Aamir Pallikal that had Suraj Venjaramoodu donning the role of the producer apart from being the protagonist.
Barroz: "Lacked the expected finesse in story telling & performances!!!"
Finally the much awaited movie that has been in the making for quite a while was released on Christmas, exactly 44 years after his debut in a full fledged role in "Manjil Virinja Pookkal". Based on Jijo Punnoose's novel, Lalettan & T K Rajeev Kumar had initially planned to conceive it as a 3D play but due to the logistical challenges they decided to make it as a 3D flick. However, as there were significant revisions from the original screenplay, Jijo backed out from the movie. If you ask me that proved to be the bane of this project.
The movie unfolds in 1633AD where Barroz (Lalettan) is the loyal servant of Cristovao da Gama (Ignacio Mateos), the Portuguese Viceroy who was entrusted to take care of the treasure. However, as fate might have it, he was cursed to become a ghost & his wait to hand over the treasure had lasted for over four centuries. In the present day, Isabella (Maya Rao West), the descendant of the Viceroy & heir to the treasure comes to Goa with her father, to attend the auction for the da Gama mansion. What subsequently follows is how Barroz meets up with Isa & the evil forces that are set in motion to deny him the liberation that he deserved.
As mentioned earlier, the biggest flaw with the movie is the screenplay as it comes across as multiple skits that has been stitched together. This aspect becomes extremely prominent for all the interior sequences as it fails to keep us engaged. The basic thread of the story sounded interesting and it did have the potential. However, to be honest, the execution was quite average & at times, even mediocre. Despite the dramatic feel to proceedings in the climax, I did like that section which was undeniably one of the very rare occasions where all aspects worked reasonably well.
On the technical side, the 3D effects in general was ok but we are so used to seeing such type of flicks nowadays that it fails to provide that wow factor. Despite the best efforts of the fantastic Santhosh Sivan, it gave the claustrophobic feel of being performed in a very restricted space. At the same time, Lydian Nadhaswaram's music was impressive for most parts (though it's placement was questionable at times). Another major factor that contributed to the movie's decline were the performances right across the board. Almost all of them were mediocre or average at best without exception. Even Lalettan did struggle to provide authenticity to the character in many segments, however he showed his caliber in the second half especially the climax. A special mention for Bhasi Vaikkom who dubbed for the Voodoo as that did evoke laughs and sounded sensible in many mundane sequences.
Verdict: Despite the goodwill & the fantastic actor that the legend is, the same cannot be said about his directorial skills. He might have had the vision & the resources to make it, but when it came to execution it was quite amateurish!!!
Rating: 2/5
Extra decent: "Dark humour that keeps us engaged!!!"
This is Aamir Pallikal's second directorial venture after "Ayisha" & once again, he has collaborated with Ashif Kakkodi. This time around the duo have chosen to opt for dark humour and the protagonist that they had chosen for this quirky flick was Suraj Venjaramoodu who had also invested in the project along with Listin Stephen.
The camera zooms into an apartment complex where Binu (Suraj) had just returned from work & gets struck down by the security. As a result, his memory was lost though the signs that he showed had given hope to the doctors that he would recover completely in due time. However, his family seemed far from pleased about that news & on the contrary were anxious about what lay in front of them. So why were they worried???
In terms of the mood, it pretty much fits into the "Mukundan Unni Associates" space & the manner in which Ashif has penned the characters ensured that we do not end up taking sides as all have shades of grey and are selfish about their comfort. Aamir has crafted the scenes well such that there is a proper blend of humour irrespective of the tone of the sequence. At the same time, I was a bit perplexed that the main crux point that made Binu to change did not come across as dire to make certain characters so tensed up. The technical aspects were executed well be it Sharon Sreenivas's cinematography or Ankit Menon's music.
This is undoubtedly one of Suraj's best performance in recent times as it was not an easy role to pull off. His nuanced portrayal effectively captured the various facets of the character. Grace Antony was fine as always while Vinayaprasad & Sudheer Karamana did their parts well. The rest of the cast have also done their roles aptly.
Verdict: An interesting story complimented by an impressive Suraj makes it a worthy watch.
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment