The sins of the father continue to haunt the endearing, tight-knit family introduced to us in "Bharathanatyam", a film whose existence, it so happens, wasn't made known to many folks — poor marketing is a reason many attributed to its box office failure — but proved itself to be an overlooked streaming hit later.
Look, the first film wasn't exactly the greatest comedy ever made (it has its detractors like every single film made on this planet), but for an "original" concept — that is, a comedic take on an existing Malayalam film, Mohanlal's "Balettan", without embracing the sensibilities of a parody — the movie, which carried itself with modest ambitions, was worth paying attention to because at the center of it all is a family worth rooting for. And isn't that ingredient — likeable characters who, despite their flaws, stood by each other in moments of extreme crisis — the most important for a family-oriented comedy?
"Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam" proves from its opening moments alone that it exists for a reason, that it wasn't made just for the sake of it. Proper care has been taken to ensure that this follow-up, despite the genre shift, feels like a natural extension of "Bharathanatyam" as the sequel picks up right after the first. The spectre of the late Bharathan Nair (Sai Kumar) looms large in the background in the form of his past actions. Sasidharan Nair (Saiju Kurup) evolves from Balettan to Georgekutty when he is confronted with a menace in the form of a new character who shows up at his doorstep one day to drop a different kind of bombshell. The father has done something else in the past, this time a dubious enterprise involving multiple characters. The burden now lies on Sasidharan and his family to clear the debts. But how?
The rest is better not spoiled. For now, I reckon it's safe to say that, unlike the first, the sequel is a comedic take on "Drishyam" — the hint of which was given in the trailer. The trailer, however, did not reveal who the murder victim/villain is. The murder was the result of an accident, but the film treats the whole situation like a dark comedy akin to something conjured up by Priyadarshan or Siddique-Lal. Before we get to the "Drishyam" twist, the film also evokes the atmosphere of Sathyan Anthikad's "Sanmanasullavarkku Samadhaanam" and the Ramji Rao films. The fact that this is a comedy must have been liberating, I assume, for the filmmakers, because they can make bold swings that wouldn't have been possible in the original "Drishyam" films — by 'original', I mean the Mohanlal-fronted films directed by Jeethu Joseph. Speaking of, Joseph is name-dropped in one comical exchange where Sasidharan calls his lawyer to seek advice in the guise of asking a doubt for the scripting of... Drishyam 4. (Also, what a funny coincidence that "Drishyam 2", which originally premiered on streaming, is getting a theatrical release for the first time today).
"Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam" is basically a Looney Tunes-style entertainer characterised by clever wordplay and wildly inventive scenarios with just the necessary degree of self-awareness. Since there are so many characters involved, the sequel appears bigger with bigger stakes and more challenges, all while maintaining a measure of humour. There are places where it doesn't quite work, like in the portions where Vinay Forrt's cop, who shares a "patchy" history with an informant, has to utter some lines that seem forced or don't land. But there are also areas where Forrt scores well, to the point of earning our applause. As in the first film, much of the humour comes from the quirky family dynamic.
Kalaranjini, who plays Saiju's mother, once again gets the best lines and moments, as she did in the first film — and most of the laughter is induced by her mannerisms and body language, an extraordinary gift for which her sisters, Urvashi and Kalpana, were also known. For the ever-reliable Saiju Kurup, this is yet another opportunity to play the same character again after the "Aadu" films; he plays Sasidharan with a level of consistency that keeps the performance very much tethered to what he did in the first film but also brings a new welcome dimension indicative of the character's transition to someone braver and bolder. The same goes for the able cast of supporting actors who understand the value of strong teamwork, both as their characters and as contributors to the film's overall mood.
Film: Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam
Director: Krishnadas Murali
Cast: Saiju Kurup, Kalaranjini, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Jagadish, Vinay Forrt, Baby Jean, Sreeja Ravi, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Swathi Das Prabhu, Sruthy Suresh
Rating: 4/5
