Bommalattam (aka) Bharathiraja’s Cinema Movie Review

Starring: Nana Patekar, Arjun, Kajal Agarwal

Direction: Bharathiraja

Music: Himesh Reshammiya

Production: Therkathi Kalai Koodam

No white-gowned and winged fairies, no sugary sweet songs posing as interludes, no emotional turmoil of brother-sister or love struck couples. Bharathiraja’s Bommalattam is not what is usually expected out of the legendary director who delivered such fairy tale romances and intense movies with powerhouse performances. Instead, it’s a riveting and fast-paced suspense thriller set in the backdrop of the film industry. Not that the turf is new to Bharathiraja whose thriller Tik Tik Tik is still considered to be one of the most-watched pulp movies of his period.
Bharathiraja’s skill at crafting watertight screenplay is evident as the movie travels at jet pace without a moment of sluggishness in the narrative. Besides, the narrative is smart that is capable of holding the suspense quotient until the truth is unfurled on its own during the course of the movie.

Much can’t be revealed about the movie’s plot as it would be unfair; since the movie’s watching pleasure largely lies on the idea that the viewer is not informed beforehand – as is the case with most of the suspense thrillers.

The movie follows the murder and investigation of Nana Patekar’s crew members. Nana plays a renowned film director whose crew members are murdered in immediate succession. CBI is summoned for investigation and the truth unravels revealing the identity of the murderer – in the due course scoring out the prime suspects one by one.

Bommalattam also provides an insider’s look into the world of cinema. Nana asks the female lead of his movie for an ‘emerging out of the sea’ scene. However she refuses reasoning that her pedicure was done recently and the salt water could damage her cuticles. After much prodding she agrees but with a condition – she will wet her feet only in bottled mineral water. Same way, Vivek and Manivannan’s characters also tell a lot about the menaces a crew has to face during outdoor shoots.

Nana’s acting needs no elucidation – he fits perfectly into the shoes of a patient director, who is exasperated at the snootiness of his film’s lead and devastated at the murder of his allies. Arjun plays an intelligent and neat CBI officer and delivers a subtle performance, quite atypical of his usual deliver-a-kick-and-leap-into-the-air roles.

The songs Va Va Thalaiva and Check Check proclaims Himesh’s prowess in tuning catchy numbers. Mandy’s background score deserves a special mention, especially for its subtlety. Kannan’s camera captures the proceedings in perfect angles and assists in enhancing the movie’s flow.

On the downside, the movie largely seems to cater to the Hindi speaking audience – given the locale and the milieu in which it is set. Irregular lip-sync of actors also reveal that the movie is in fact dubbed into Tamil after having been shot in Hindi directly.

All said and done, Bommalattam is a perfectly crafted and executed investigative thriller. The surprise factor being Bharathiraja’s tautly woven screenplay – it negates the chance of tedium, even for a fraction of a second.

Verdict – Bommalattam – Hold on to your seats!