The State Government has finally lifted the restrictions on theatres & given the industry the permission to display their celluloid recreations from October 25th. However, as per the latest reports; there is no confirmation yet as to which all big banner releases would hit the screens in the near future. Well the public would not necessarily complain as many of the movies that released on the OTT platform were impressive & the next that hoped to join that list is Ravi K Chandran's "Bhramam". With a talented cast & crew on board, the only question that remained to be answered was whether it was a worthy remake of "Andhadhun".
Since most of you would have watched the original, I'm not going into much specific details of the plot. Set in Fort Kochi, Ray Mathews (Prithviraj Sukumaran) was a blind pianist who made a living performing gigs at various places. One such performance was witnessed by Uday Kumar (Shankar), a yesteryear superstar who hires his services for a private act as an anniversary present for the latter's wife, Simi (Mamta Mohandas). But it turned out to be much different from anything that anyone would have envisioned.
Ravi Chandran's credentials as a cinematographer is well documented but in this venture he has donned the cape of a director in addition to that. Based on Sriram Raghavan's "Andhadhun", it stays faithful to the original except for a change in milieu & a couple of subtle changes. Well to capture the attention of those who have already watched the original, it would mean that the remake has to be crafted in its own unique manner. In that sense, I felt that this was much more humorous & the protagonist was a shade more wicked with the first half being more interesting. On the technical side, the visuals were impressive as expected while Jakes Bejoy's BGM was average and his music though hummable did not quite gel with the mood of the movie.
Prithvi was convincing as the 'pretentious' blind musician and the subsequent characterization. He has tried to infuse a different flavour to the character rather than merely be a carbon copy of Ayushmann which succeeds also. The bigger challenge was however for Mamta, who had a much bigger pair of shoes to fill & though she has done a decent job, it doesnt quite match to Tabu's brilliance. Shankar was a good casting choice but the pairing with Mamta stood out like a sore thumb. Unni Mukundan was fine along with Ananya who just had a few scenes but leaves her mark. The rest of the cast have done their parts aptly.
Verdict: There is no doubt that making remakes is no mean task especially since the risk is much greater or else it will be slammed by the audience. To be frank, "Bhramam" was ok, however the need to make it did not make sense without having its own unique signature especially when Malayalam industry is going through a phase where interesting content is being churned out on a regular basis. Summing up, you can give it a try!!!
Rating: 2.5/5
Regards...Ben
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