Bhramam Review : Grey characters in a novel premise

Story: Aspiring musician Ray Mathews gets into trouble when he crosses paths with yesteryear romantic hero Uday Kumar and his sexy, young wife Simi

Review: Malayalam is not new to remakes. Several much-loved cult hits of the 1980s, such as Boeing Boeing, Thalavattam and Rajavinte Makan, were ‘inspired’ by Hollywood films and therein lies the crux. The movies were all adapted so smoothly into the local milieu, that you would be hard pressed to figure out that they were originally American films. And before globalisation took over, we needed the rare, keen movie buff or a voracious reader of thrillers to make the connection and spread the word.

Bhramam, which benefits immensely from some good acting, falls short in this regard. A remake of hit Hindi thriller Andhadhun, the story holds enough delicious and novel twists to keep the viewer glued, but somehow the scene-by-scene recreation doesn't gel neatly with our ethos. A few tweaks to give it a local flavour would have benefitted the film greatly.

Cinematographer-director Ravi K Chandran, who has worked on major Bollywood projects such as Black, My Name is Khan, Student of the Year 2 and Coolie No 1 among others as DoP, brings to us the story of aspiring musician Ray Mathews, played by Prithviraj, and the trouble he gets into when he crosses paths with yesteryear romantic hero Uday Kumar (Shankar) and his sexy, young wife Simi, portrayed by Mamta Mohandas. Being a dark, comedy thriller, any more details on the story would qualify as spoiler alerts, so suffice to say - with paramours, a snoopy neighbour, a doctor who seems to specialise in malpractice - things are not as they look on the surface and there is more to things than meets the eye.

The film is stylish and fun, thanks to the twists and the unexpected humour; it is not often that we are prompted to burst out laughing when the gun is pointed at the protagonist and he bumbles and begs to be let off. Prithviraj delivers in the tricky role with his usual flair, evoking the right amounts of sympathy or even the opposite for his character. Unni Mukundan seems a bit reticent and diffident in his role, while raising some laughs.

Raashi Khanna and Ananya are passable. Shankar as a yesteryear actor is sure to evoke smiles. But it is Mamta Mohandas who steals the scene, fitting perfectly into the difficult character of Simi. It is tempting to make a comparison with Tabu who did the role in the original version, and Mamta can take a bow for her portrayal, which she makes entertaining and well-rounded with understated drama. It is also good to see female characters, with various shades of grey and even slightly over the top, assimilate without awkwardness into our films.

The music by Jakes Bejoy is a mixed bag; Munthiripoovo has the makings of a youth hit.

Bhramam keeps the audience interested through its 152-minute run and is definitely a novel experience for the Malayali audience. Funnily enough, this is probably not the recommendation to make in these times, but it's a movie that would be enjoyable viewing with friends or even on a date night.