Bheemante Vazhi

Ashraf Hamza’s second directorial, Bheemante Vazhi, co-produced and written by Chemban Vinod Jose, is a rooted comedy that hilariously depicts one conflict over a path. Chemban uses a central premise to build a partially satirical and subtly emotional story. Ashraf repeats his Thamaasha style minimalistic humor treatment to create a constantly engaging film without doing much of a gear shift. With almost all the characters contributing to the narrative, Bheemante Vazhi is a smart comedy with pleasing politics.

Sanju, aka Bheeman, is our central character. The path to his house and many other nearby houses is an extremely narrow one. One night when Sanju’s mom falls and fractures her leg, the hassle of getting her to a hospital made him realize the importance of a wide road to all the houses. His efforts to widen the existing way by obtaining consent from house owners and government authorities and the issues he had to tackle are what we see in Bheemante Vazhi.

At no point, Bheemante Vazhi is going after the humor. At first, I felt the entry of Suraj Venjaramood was an unnecessary add-on (yet funny) to the movie. But they have used that character’s image to take the film forward at a later stage. Within its minimal run time, Bheemante Vazhi establishes depth to almost all the pivotal characters in the journey, which is achieved through a simple dialogue or a mere gaze. The mixture of subtle and sarcastic humor with the emotions of various characters gives a pleasant vibe to the movie. There are times when the film shifts from a cunning or funny moment to an emotional dialogue within a matter of seconds. Still, the tone shift never felt like a jarring one.

This is not an atypical Kunchako Boban performance in terms of expressions and style. But his decision to move away from the “nice guy” image has to be appreciated. Bheeman is that egoistic male who wants the woman he was in a relationship with to feel bad for ending that relationship. He doesn’t want a committed relationship. Kunchako Boban did a flawless job as this flawed character. Vincy Aloshious, who recently made a great impression through Kanakam Kaamini Kalaham, was really good in this one too. She plays a totally different character this time, and the artist definitely has a good range of emotions. The voice modulation and the subtle expression change in the “connection” dialogue were excellent. Megha Thomas as the railway engineer was memorable.

Jinu Joseph as the main antagonist Kosthep was a refreshing casting. Jinu gets the pitch of the character perfectly, and this time his dialogue delivery also suited the personality. Chemban Vinod Jose as the soft-spoken Maharshi, Divya M Nair as the councilor, Naseer Sankranthi as the pet-loving neighbor, Chinnu Chandni as the Judo teacher, Ashwin Matthew as the doctor, Binu Pappu as the auto-driver, etc. are some of the other prominent names in the cast, and everyone looked perfect for the part they were offered.

Disputes over a path are something familiar to us, and Bheemante Vazhi uses that as its premise. A siphon becomes a significant thing in this film, and the movie does go into the details of an issue like this and its complications. Of course, the solution is a bit cinematic. But the structuring of the script till that point is highly entertaining. The politics of the film in representing the female characters and their desires was wonderful to see. Chemban tries to demolish the “good girl” stereotype and portrays them as emotionally secure and mentally strong characters. The film’s climax has a fight, and the people who trash the bad guys are the ones we expect the least to get involved in such a situation. The Oruthi song is simply addictive.

Ashraf Hamza’s Bheemante Vazhi is an entertainer with different layers. It achieves an emotional angle through the characters. And there is this satiric angle we feel through the premise. And the combination of these two perspectives makes it an engaging comedy that stays with you.