Bommalattom

Director Bharathiraja is prominent for giving super hit films in the past in which he delivered the real flavor of the tamil culture. It was he who brought the tamil films to the village outdoors from the studio sets in Madras. It all happened in the latter half of 1970s through films like ‘Pathinaru Vayathinile’ and ‘Kizhakke Pokum Rail’. The ace director has given around 40 films, which include some notable ones like ‘Nizhalkal’, ‘Manvasanai’, ‘Alaigal Oyivathillai’, ‘Sigappu Rojakkal’, ‘Oru Kaithiyin Dairy’, ‘Kadalora Kavithaikal’, Nadodi Thenral’, ‘Kizhakku Seemayile’ etc. He has got the record for introducing maximum number of heroines in tamil; the list includes Sreedevi, Radhika, Revathi, Rohini, Radha, Rekha, Ranjitha, Rudra, Sukanya, Priyamani etc. (look at the similarity, he has given onscreen names starting with ‘R’ for most of them). Bharathiraja’s childhood friend Music Maestro Ilayaraja has given some memorable songs through his projects. Though the director’s last few films have not caught much attention, his name is still on the top.

Now the director is back with his new project ‘Bommalattom’. The name holds a nativity, unexpectedly this is an investigation subject told in the city backdrop. The team claims this as a bilingual film in hindi and tamil, I don’t think so. Probably it might have been made in hindi and dubbed into tamil, since the lip movement doesn’t match the dialogue.

The story revolves around Nana Patekar who is a famous film director. The heroine of the film and a local person is murdered while the shooting was going on for his latest film. He is the main accused and is being interrogated by the Arjun, who is a CBI officer. In the end there is some twists and turns and the truth comes out in the climax.

The story line is good with an unusual climax, but the way in which the experienced “old” director conceived it is the main drawback here. The film lacks freshness. It is lagging and also not presented in an attractive way. The relation between Arjun’s heroine, Kajal Agarwal and the director’s character is not registered; also don’t understand the logic in which the CBI officer appears the spot immediately after the accident. The problem with the performance of the new artists and the dubbing in some portions felt amateur. The suspense is not showed in a believable manner. It is not good to forcibly incultivate Vivek in such a small role in 2-3 scenes since it wont creates any laughing at all. More or less ‘Bommalattom’ has the taste of an ordinary film in the earlier 90’s.

The highlight of this film is the performance by Nana Patekar in his bold and serious appearance. Bahrathiraja’s usual companion B.Kannan is the cinematographer. The fast cuts by the editor won’t be good enough to get rid of the boring presentation. Himesh Reshammiya has given the music, but in that area also the director’s choice is a failure.

‘Bommalattom’ is not the real traditional dance show as you expect. The theme is good, since it is performed without much guidance, the result is total disappointment.

Rating : 2 / 5