Whenever I hear about 'bougainvillea' the first visual that flashes through my mind is the numerous bougainvillae that we had in my school, Infant Jesus Thangassery. I still remember the day when one of its thorns pierced into my scalp when I was playing around it with my friends. These memories came back to me when I read that Amal Neerad's latest flick also had the same name. As a movie buff, I have been a fan of his film making skills ever since he burst into the industry with the stylish "Big B".
Based on Lajo Jose's "Ruthinte Lokam", the focus is on the couple, Reethu (Jyothirmayi) & her husband, Dr. Royce (Chackochan) who met with an accident eight years back. As a result of that, Reethu was diagnosed with retrograde amnesia though Royce made sure he took utmost care of her to ensure that they led a happy and contented life along with their two kids. Things take a turn when ACP David Koshy (Fahadh Faasil) turned up at their doorsteps as Reethu was the prime suspect in the disappearance of a minister's daughter. So was she actually involved & it seemed all the more trickier for both the parties involved to prove their point considering her medical condition.
As I haven't read Lajo's book, I had no clue as to what the story was about prior to watching it though I presumed it would be as close an adaptation as possible as he had worked on the script along with Amal. The film takes its sweet time in establishing the characters & their routines and that is essentially what wewitness in the first half. The mood & ambience is set & the mystery and intrigue is slowly yet steadily taken up by notches with each passing minute. However, in the process of this engaging build up, a couple of pointers is given to the audience which kind of drastically reduced (atleast for quite a few) the impact of the surprise element in the latter half. So much so, the back story segment, the menacing nature of the character failed to provide the sucker punch that was expected & in a way, some of the elements that Amal had used in the climax sequence reminded me of "Varathan".
At the same time, as expected from a Amal Neerad movie, it was technically well executed. The choice of location was apt and the technical team has done complete justice to all the aspects involved. This includes Anand Chandran's fantastic frames & Sushin Shyam's BGM and music as well as Vivek Harshan's editing. It's been more than a decade since Jyothirmayi have made an appearance on the big screen & she more than made up for that absence with a brilliant performance as Reethu. It was a character that demanded her to be emotionally frail & unpredictable and she was spot on. Chackochan did a fine job as well in a role that gave him ample scope to perform though I still felt that it could have been written a bit more better while Srinda provided able support. Veena Nandakumar was just about ok as her dialogue delivery could have been better. However, I fail to understand as to why the makers wanted Fahadh for this role except for attracting more footfalls to the theatres. It was an insignificant role that barely had anything for him to do & the same also goes to Sharafudeen, who was equally wasted.
Verdict: Coming on the back of "Kishkindha Kaandam", it also had a well constructed build-up but unlike the former it had quite an underwhelming climax. On the technical side, it was well made with fine performances from Jyothirmayi & Chackochan. In short, you can give it a try!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment