Review for BHRAMAM:
•Language: MALAYALAM.
•Duration: 152 MINUTES.
•Genre: CRIME THRILLER.
• REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R.VALIYAVEETIL.
•Streaming on Amazon Prime Videos.
•POSITIVES:
1: Story and Dialogues.
2: Performance of actors.
3: Cinematography.
4: Editing.
5: Background Scores.
•NEGATIVES:
1: Average Screenplay.
2: Songs.
3: Lyrics.
4: Dubbing.
5: Making in the second half and ending.
•ONE WORD: A remake that failed to create the impact of the original, still watchable.
•DETAIL REVIEW:
Ray (Prithviraj Sukumaran) is a pianist who pretends to be blind, who once lost an opportunity of being a music teacher to a blind candidate, decides to create a sympathy side by pretending as a blind. So he moves his life as acting as blind and finds many musical works and meets his expenses for cheap by creating sympathy. One day he gets an opportunity, a job as a pianist in a restaurant, from there he meets Uday Kumar who is a film star, finds Ray’s music as pleasing. After a couple of days, Uday Kumar invites Ray to his home to play some music for his wedding anniversary, Ray aggress. On the day of the anniversary when Ray gets into the house of Uday Kumar, some sudden unexpected things began to change the life Ray upside down. What happened at the house and its further events are the rest of the story.
Bhramam is directed by the veteran cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran, based on Andhadhun by Sriram Raghavan. The dialogues for the film are written by Sarath Balan, Ravi K. Chandran himself handles the role of cinematographer in the film. Jakes Bejoy handles the music and Sreekar Prasad does the editing. Bhramam with a duration of 152 minutes is now streaming through Amazon Prime Videos.
If someone asks to confide my ten most favorite crime thrillers then Andhadhun released in 2018, directed by Sriram Raghavan will surely find a top spot among them. It’s a movie I had watched several times, a film blended with many exciting and thrilling factors. So Bhramam released on Amazon Prime Videos is the official remake of Anadhadhun, a brave attempt but partially failed to create an impact.
What makes Bhramam suffers is its screenplay and making which we can see in the second half. As a person who has seen Andhadhun, this remake has a promising effort but the whole package of thrilling factors which Andhadhun promises was not effectively seen in Bhramam. The second half was simply average, the movie started well on the right balance and the circumstances leading to the actual plot was steady but at the time when the film enters into the specific plot, the revealing twist and surprises in the second part of the story lack a punch by the average making style, kind of a normal ok feel was only been able to felt. The original version is a captivating thriller that offers the elements of black humor, suspense, twist, and unexpected encounters combined with a drama track so while watching an intense mood will get all over till the end but when it comes to Bhramam it’s different. What makes Bhramam different is the track of situational comedies, the humourous scenes are filled with thrilling scenes so most of the Mollywood audience who haven’t watched original can connect but personally for me it was average.
The dialogues written by Sarath Balan were great especially the above-mentioned conversation he brought during the thrilling scenes. The mixing of humor dialogues in the thriller backdrop had created many engaging funny scenarios and most of them were enjoyable. The brilliant story from Sriram Raghavan is the real backbone that holds Bhramam from falling apart. The unexpected mystery the story tells, the stunning surprises, the building of suspense, amazing characterization, the unpredictable line of events and the wonderous ending are the factors that make the story of Sriram Raghavan simply brilliant. So adapting an outstanding story and making a screenplay based on a certain culture is tough but the effort of the writer Sarath Balan needs to be mentioned. The transformation of culture into a Kerala style and the events uploading to its pattern were written out fairly. The second half of the screenplay should have more crisper still the adaption was neatly done.
The making of Ravi K. Chandran has both ups and downs. The interesting thing I liked in the making is the direction and its style is not the exact copycat of the original Andhadhun. As both the director and cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran has brought some freshness, he doesn’t copy every single aspect of Andhadhun, the Telugu remake Maestro released a few weeks earlier was the exact copy. In Bhramam the culture of Kerala style was synching for the story, the locations he showed were matching and the characters were in control. Apart from these what I didn’t like in the direction is the second half and ending. When the movie touches down to the drama everything gets flat, a proper connecting factors were missing. The twist and turns don’t gave any impact like the original, the way the director made the climax should have been better. When I watched the climax of the original it was like a wonderous experience, a wow factor was given but the climax of Bhramam was weakened by the average execution. All though looking into the whole movie Ravi K. Chandran shines completely as a brilliant cinematographer but as a director, he needs more vision.
The performance of the actors was good but not extraordinary. Prithviraj Sukumaran as Ray did a notable performance. As a blind the mannerism he uplifted was surprising. The dialogue delivery was not that great at some point, a dramatic feel was felt at many parts. The style of the singer and a pianist was ideal, the romantic scenes with Raashi Khanna were charming. The clever, organic, and tricky style that Ayushmann showed in the original was felt interesting but Prithviraj brought his style with a pinch of some dramatic attitude, although he was good as usual but not great. Mamta Mohandas as Simi shines the negative impact which the character demands were acted out impressively. Through a bit of elegance and magic which I saw in Tabu’s performance in the original version was missing, but still, Mamta was great among the other actors. Unni Mukudan as Dinesh was superb, his attitude for a police officer who has done something fishy was handled perfectly and the few humor tracks were also funny. Raashi Khanna looks gorgeous, for performing she was having less but still managed to do a fair job.
Dubbing done by the actors falls at many parts, especially for Raashi Khanna and Prithviraj. The lip-syncing was very bad for the role of Raashi Khanna, for Prithviraj minor errors like his breathe and the style of telling dialogue stands out as errors. The music composed by Jakes Bejoy doesn’t impress but the background score had done a great advantage for the film. For the many crucial scenes, the background scores were giving the right feel and depth, lifting the scenes with the right set of tunes. The songs were below average and the lyrics were disappointing completely. I am still wondering why the makers have filled the composition with these horrible lines. The editing of Sreekar Prasad was excellent, the cuts were flawless without giving any mismatches and the color grading was also accurate. The outdoor visuals captured by Ravi K. Chandran were beautiful, the aspect of Kochi was shown with many attractive frames. The indoor scenes especially the romantic scenes between Prithviraj and Raashi Khanna was taken faultlessly, the lighting was incredible to the scene and the close-up frames had given more beauty to the scene.
So comparing with Andhadhun the similarities are almost 80%, the making format and story presentation are almost equal. The changes the makers had brought is the culture, for the Kerala audience they had carried out few changes in the screenplay to make a better-related connection. The names of the characters had changed but still followed by the same living style. The character played by Prithviraj pretends to be blind so why he does it, for what he acts as a blind man gives a properly detailed reason which was good than the original. The dialogues have another aspect of a humor angle in Bhramam, which was not bad. So looking altogether similarities with Andhadhun are close enough to 80%, as a remake Bhramam is an imitation with minor changes.
•CONCLUSION:
So Bhramam is a kind of film with both positive and negative factors, still, it’s an enjoyable remake with a brilliant adaptive story and the satisfying performance of actors and decent making which makes Bhramam watchable. Therefore to conclude Bhramam is a decent remake with few changes comparing to the original. Those who haven’t watched Andhahdun, this remake will be surely enjoyable but for others, it is going to be an average work, just a one-time watch.
•VERDCIT: WATCHABLE REMAKE.
•RATING: 2.5/5.
