When a legendary actor-director duo reunites after 15 years of a cult classic, expectations are bound to be sky-high. It can also be a burden, which can easily weigh down the best in business. Add to it, comparisons with the iconic character and its possible shades in the latter one, and we have a tailormade situation for a make-or-break venture.
Amal Neerad burst on to the Malayalam film scene as a director in 2007 with Big B, with none other than megastar Mammootty in the lead as Bilal John Kurisingal. Having worked with Ram Gopal Varma as a cinematographer in Bollywood, Neerad took Malayalam cinema by storm with his unique visual style of filmmaking. Big B was a slow burner, and achieved a cult following over the years for its technical brilliance and stylish narrative.
The two were tipped to reunite with the much-anticipated Bilal, sequel to Big B, but Covid-19 threw a spanner in the works. The result? Bheeshma Parvam. The name spawned rumours that it was an adaptation of Bheeshma’s story in Mahabharat. And then, when the first look was revealed, there were remarks that it was Big B 2.0! After all, Neerad had been guilty of repeating himself in box-office duds like Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded, Anwar and Bachelor Party. However, the actor and the director assured the audience it wasn’t either, and urged all to judge the film after watching it.
Yes, Bheeshma Parvam is no Big B, and Michael Anjoottikkaran (Mammootty) is no Bilal John Kurisingal. Michael is the patriarch of an influential Christian family in Kochi in the late 1980s, who commands fear and respect from all because of his past. He is unmarried, and his mission in life is to keep the family together and is fiercely protective of them. Expectedly, his iron grip doesn’t go down well with some of the young blood in the family, and they join hands with an old foe to strike him down.
But, how do you kill a man who, in his own words, chooses when to die (More shades of Bheeshma from Mahabharat)? The first quarter of the film is a nod to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (a tribute, one can say, to 50 years of the cult classic), and RGV’s Sarkar. The characters are introduced, and so is the simmering tension in the family, and the stage is set. But the similarities end there. Michael is no brooding patriarch, mouthing one-liners in his rich baritone. He can evoke a smile and strike fear in equal measure. And who better than Mammootty himself to reinvent the patriarch in his own way, which is as different from Vito Corleone or a Subhash Nagre or even a Velu Nayakar, as chalk and cheese. Mammootty, despite his age, brings in the intensity and swagger that the role deserves. Anend C. Chandran’s brilliant cinematography and Sushin Shyam’s pulsating music take it to another level. Be it his look or his body language or slang, the thespian continues to surprise one and all with more-than-subtle changes he brings into the characters, which may seem similar on paper, but delightfully different on screen. It is his thirst to experiment, which has made him part of critically-acclaimed films like Pathemari, Unda, Peranbu, among others in recent times. One gets the true measure of Mammootty the actor when one compares his range of work in recent times with that of the other icon of Malayalam cinema – Mohanlal – who has, time and again, been accused of repeating himself and seldom stepping out of his comfort zone.
So, is Michael yet another ‘superhero’ seen in mass films? No. This god bleeds. And he needs a shoulder to lean on. Enter Ajas (Soubin). He is the surprise package of the film, and is unleashed (literally) in the second half. Such is Soubin’s aura and energy that we hardly miss Mammootty is some stretches of the latter half of the film. In fact, the cast of the film, and the way each character is treated, are what drive the film. The story is nothing new – a large family with an array of characters, a patriarch, an old foe, betrayal and justice in the end. But what sets Bheeshma Parvam apart is that the characters are not mere props around the lead actor - be it Ami (the ever-improving Sreenath Bhasi), MP James (Dileesh Pothan), Peter (Malayalam cinema’s Midas, Shine Tom Chacko), Rachel (Anagha), Fathima (Nadia Moidu)… the list is endless! Kudos to the scriptwriters for treating the characters with respect, especially the women in the film, which isn’t the case in most of the mass flicks.
The only blemish is, perhaps, the treatment of the antagonist. For a character such as Michael, and an actor of the stature of Mammootty, Sudev Nair as the Bombay-returned gangster Rajan Madhavan Nair falls a bit flat. Sudev the actor is at his usual best here, but one feels that Rajan needed more screen time and action in this family drama with revenge at its heart. Even the climax is far from what fans would expect, but then, it might be a deliberate attempt by Neerad to depart from the obvious.
Bheeshma Parvam sets the stage nicely for Bilal which is expected next year. Will the Mammootty-Amal Neerad duo crack it again? Let’s wait and watch.
P.S.: It would be a crime not to mention 1) the production design, which does a brilliant job of recreating the 1980s, and 2) the sight of two late stalwarts of Malayalam cinema – Nedumudi Venu and K.P.A.C. Lalitha – together on the silver screen (in a different avatar, though!) for the last time.
Film: Bheeshma Parvam
Language: Malayalam
Director: Amal Neerad
Cast: Mammootty, Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Nadia Moidu and others
Rating: 4/5
