Bhooloham

Bhooloham, the much delayed release of Jayam Ravi has a very delicate base. The idea of the film is to let the people know how commercialization and corporate companies have managed to rule our minds and tastes, but with a preachy fragile plot, the movie only works occasionally that too mainly because of certain entertainment factors.

The premise of the movie is set on the arch rivalry of two groups of boxers. Bhooloham belongs to one of the groups and he wants to kill the other boxer as Bhooloham’s father committed suicide because of the humiliation he had to face after losing to Bhooloham’s opponent’s father. A TV channel decides to capitalize on this rivalry by creating a championship that will feature these two along with National champion and a world famous boxer. How it all goes and who wins at the end of it all is what the film talking about.

The movie is hesitant at many areas. There is an effort to create a “Madras” type rivalry. The channel corporate episode is there. Some tragedies are there. The efforts to make it look like a typical Tamil film have made it tacky. The most impressive segment of the film is the debate between Bhooloham and Deepak where Bhooloham scores in establishing why he is worth demanding. The swiftness the movie showed while covering the other areas of the film was not there and that really helps. An irrelevant romantic track is there and some of the acts done by the American fighter were too dramatic for us to digest.

Jayam Ravi as the eccentric, outspoken Bhooloham delivers a convincing performance. God knows the importance of Trisha’s character. Her character has Tattoos on thighs, hips and a few more areas so that the movie can create a few scenes based on that (basically something for audience to ogle). Prakash Raj in his effortless style handles the role of channel head Deepak. Nathan Jones proved that he is only good in fighting. Ponvannan and Shanmugarajan did well as the teachers.

There are moments in the film that will make you feel that Kalyanakrishnan has that desire to create something fresh. Even though the plot he wrote is similar to the Death race franchise (nature) and lacks depth, the lack of compromise in fight sequences and the sort of quirky rendering of the death scene of Bhooloham’s Guru show that if offered a good script, this guy can present it in an interesting way. Apart from the above mentioned scenes the masala is pretty much there in the screenplay. Preaching should have been treated in a different way and the romance should have never been there. Music isn’t that catchy. Art direction was good.

Bhooloham is an average entertainer that lacks the sort of punch we would have expected from a movie that is built around the idea of boxing. It is watchable and bearable for sure, but won’t stay in your mind for a long time.