Bhagavan

Without much pre-publicity, suddenly one day I read somewhere that a malayalam film is being fully shot in a day (around 18 hrours) and the hero of such a film named ‘Bhagavan’ is Mohanlal. The name of the new director, Prasanth Maambully, created some doubt in my mind. But that too have gone when I thought that if they got a fine script, a wealthy producer, a good cinematographer, some efficient associate directors, then they could make even impossible things happen.


Anyway keeping the name Prasanth Maambully in mind, I entered the theatre; saw many new names in the title credits like editor (Manoj), singers, music directors, re-recordist, dialogue writer, producer etc. Lokanathan, who has worked for films like ‘Kurushetra’, ‘Notebook’ etc is handling the camera, which gave me little confidence.


The film opened with the heavy title logo animation followed by title credits in the backdrop of Independence period and Mumbai attack footages, which went ineffective when the opening sequence in the hospital is shown. The very first lengthy shot of the news reporter showed the un-professionalism of the creators.

The hero is a gynecologist. The homes minister’s wife is admitted to the hospital for delivery. The terrorists reaches there to kidnap him. They are bargaining to free their friend who is in prison. What all things are happening in the situation and how the doctor reacts to the situation and saves his life is where the theme of this film lies.


A good plot, if done in a proper way has got a guaranteed chance to be accepted. But it all happened it has to be…No need for an extra bulid up regarding the movie, the output is so poor that it became one of the worst films ever happened in malayalam. Don’t ask me, what is the problem here? It is better to say that there is not even a single minute in the film that is treated in a lovable (non boring) way.


Other than Mohanlal, Daniel Balaji (‘Vettayadu Vilayadu’ fame), Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Lena, Sreenath, Sudheesh, Sivaji Guruvayur etc; the director has filled the scenes with a bulk of extra artists with extreme poor performances. All the scenes are slow and lagging like anything. The director captures horrible and nasty reactions of the artists here and there. May be the team might have taken the scenes necessary to fill quarter portions of the film length only and while editing, the intelligent director (?) might have realized it and to overcome this, he has used non-sensible slow motions and inserted the same reaction shots repeatedly... We don't understands the characterization of hero's wife. By using songs in unwanted situations which is filled with useless scenes, he made the whole atmosphere dirty. Also the graphics used for introducing different characters including the hero does not have any quality. The dialogues used in the film are also very amateur. The usage of laptops by the hero and villains are also unacceptable. As a whole, we are forced to watch the film in a noisy atmosphere created by the crowd inside the theater (we can’t blame them, the only right thing to do at that time is to react).


Each and every scenes / shots in the film shows the inexperience in the scripting and direction side from the notorious ‘Prasanth Mambully’. The way in which the bomb is diffused, shows that the director is illiterate. He even comes after the climax portion to give thanks for his co-workers and he dedicated the film to all other directors whom he adores. (He could not have done such a great sacrifice!!!) He even admits that he doesn’t have any experience as an assistant director…a correction from my side…he doesn’t have any experience in watching films and don’t know the preliminaries of film making…


“A film happening in a day, which his shot in a day…” this was the message given to the poor star who have done the hero role by the director in the beginning. A good remuneration for his date for a single day and also to be part of a project, which can be counted for a world record, might be the explanation from Mohanlal, if questioned for accepting the project. Even then, I don’t know why the most experienced actor participated in such a childish game.



I heard in an interview, the producer claming that they have done many rehearsals before shoot and cost of the film is also not so less since they have used 7 most advanced types of cameras. It is unbelievable, we are sure that no rehearsals have occurred, since the truth lies in the output. They might have paid the superstar well (it has to be like that, since it is branded under his name only). Also feel pity about the Arul Movies, who has distributed such a poor movie to the theatres.


There are many more to write, but why should I? It is better, no need to promote ‘Bhagavan’ as a movie shot in a day or something like that since the output is a total failure. Before going to the next project (if any), the director should know the basics. Years before, while studying in college, without any planning, some of my friends made a documentary movie for fun using a handy cam…To be honest, now I feel that it was far better when compared to this film.


Here after if anybody asks, "Which is the worst film ever happened in malayalam?", the answer is simple - ‘Bhagavan’


Rating : 0.5 / 5