Director: Amal Neerad
Solid: Mammootty, Soubin Shahir, Shine Tom Chacko, Nadiya, Srinda
Oftentimes, the title design of a movie reveals as a lot about its plot because the title itself. On nearer viewing, the title font of Amal Neerad’s Bheeshma Parvam (The E-book of Bheeshma) breaks up its title into two phrases, with Bheeshma positioned above and across the smaller ‘parvam’. A set of arrows pierce by ‘Bheeshma’ from under, consciously avoiding parvam. In the event you’re one to obsesses over particulars, it’s as if the phrase ‘Bheeshma’ is mendacity down, hoisted over a mattress of arrows. The movie too is sort of the literal realisation of Bheeshma’s story, embellished in Amal Neerad’s attractive trend journal aesthetic. And after dozens of blockbusters protecting all sides of Mahabharata’s favorite tragic hero Karnan (together with Mammootty’s personal Thalapathy), we now get Bheeshma’s story.
However what writers Devadutt Shaji and Amal Neerad go on to do with the mythological character is lovingly immerse it into Mario Puzo’s Godfather universe (Neerad thanks each Puzo and Veda Vyasa within the opening credit). The plain allusions embrace the opening sequence with a helpless girl and her daughter-in-law approaching Mammootty’s “Michael” (as in Corleone) for justice, proper earlier than an essential household celebration. A dialogue throughout this opening scene makes this connection official when Michael is being known as the ‘thala thottappan’ (the Syrian Christian time period for godfather). Important confrontations too are staged as intercuts, switching between peace and conflict to underscore irony, just like the traditional movie’s ending. We additionally see traces of Sonny Corleone within the recklessly explosive Peter Anjootikaaran (Shine Tom Chacko), similar to how Rajan (Sudev Nair) embodies the very spirit of Sollozzo, besides that the soiled enterprise he brings is in actual property and never narcotics.
Not so clearly, it’s DOP Anend C Chandran’s shadows that make this immersion full. There’s a constant incompleteness in the best way the movie’s many gray characters are lit, both from the highest or the perimeters. It’s as if we by no means get to obviously see their full faces as a result of it’s by no means straightforward to grasp what they’re considering. The photographs seem burnt out in darkish sepia tones and the distinction is excessive to additional present the duality in every character. And when helped by the movie’s costume and manufacturing departments, the 80’s interval setting too is achieved comfortably with photographs of Gold Spot bottles, Led Zep t-shirts, loafs of Trendy Bread in packets of Varkey’s grocery store and most nostalgically, an establishing shot of Ernakulam’s personal Ashoka Towers. Though indulgent at instances, these inserts seem to come back from a devotion to life in newly cosmopolitan Ernakulam, reasonably than to supply lazy nostalgia.
These exterior points contribute generously to make Bheeshma Parvam seem like a stunner, nevertheless it’s Bheeshma’s delusion that gives the movie with soul. For this, it will be significant for the viewer to correlate Michael with Bheeshma as a result of that’s what the movie’s counting on. And since its interpretation of the supply textual content is pretty simple (not like the subversions in Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan or Pa. Ranjith’s Kaala) this sport of “match the next” is what retains the movie attention-grabbing even when the occasions themselves aren’t new or surprising.
The central conceit appears to be that of Michael, like Bheeshma, deciding to stay single/celibate for the sake of his father, setting forth a succession disaster. Within the movie, when one wonders why the ethical Michael stays indifferent, ignoring the crimes of his siblings and nephews, we realise that it is because Bheeshma too remained silent for all of the misdeeds of the Kauravas. And when the movie progressively builds-up to a conflict with forces of “faith, politics and household” attacking Michael, all of sudden, it’s the literal interpretation of hundreds of arrows being fired at him to culminate right into a mattress of arrows (a hospital mattress right here).
Different characters too demand a second studying from this mythological standpoint. That is the place Rajan (Sudev Nair) matches into the ‘Arjuna’ archetype, similar to how Peter (Shine Tom Chacko) seems to be a mix of each Duryodhana and Shikhandi. This studying matches with most characters of the movie with its generously laid out clues however by way of its underlying theme of succession, it’s the best way cousin Ajaz (Soubin Shahir) will get Yudhishthira’s destiny and qualities that was most fascinating. The writing is intelligent right here and it’s straightforward to maintain assuming different characters to take up the metaphorical throne, till we collect who among the many characters are from the Pandavas and Kauravas.
However does Bheesma Parvam work outdoors of this sport of matching its plot and characters to its mythological forefathers? Not at all times. For one, we’ve come to foretell a sure method by which Amal Neerad plans his scenes. So when Michael storms out of his home to deliver again his shady brother-in-law, it jogged my memory of the best way Sagar (Mohanlal) leaves for Goa to deliver again Manoj Ok Jayan’s character in Sagar Alias Jacky. Even the way by which a sure sentimental tune will get inserted, sort of ruined what was coming additionally as a result of it reused the thought behind a tune like “Oru Vakkum Mindathe” in Large B. And most evident was the precise placement and the way by which Rajan makes his fashionable entry proper earlier than the interval. If that didn’t deliver again the goosebumps from watching Angoor Rawther (Jayasurya) the primary time, then nothing can.
Even the combat scenes, though spectacular-looking (with one choreographed in high-speed utilizing what’s maybe the Bolt Digital camera, which stays in focus by quick motion) goes on for a tad too lengthy particularly when the movie’s context hasn’t been set.
None of this hampers the movie to the purpose that it turns into unenjoyable. And by now, we’ve come to pre-empt a bit of hollowness in Amal Neerad’s movies that it has develop into straightforward to modify to admiring his frames and the tonnes of swag it’s designed round. In our hurry to dismiss movies simply, we regularly overlook that fashion is simply as priceless as substance.
