Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam Movie Review
There is something quietly audacious about Krishnadas Murali returning with a sequel to a film that barely made a ripple at the box office. The 2024 family comedy-drama Bharathanatyam gained its audience slowly after its streaming debut. That Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam (B2M) even exists is itself a small act of faith, and the film acknowledges this openly with a special thanks card to filmmaker Midhun Manuel Thomas, the man behind the Aadu franchise, which proved that a poor theatrical run of the first instalment need not be the end of anything.
Director: Krishnadas Murali
Cast: Saiju Kurup, Kalaranjini, Sreeja Ravi, Divya M Nair, Sruthy Suresh, Swathi Das Prabhu, Nandu Poduval, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Baby Jean, Vinay Forrt, Abhiram Radhakrishnan
What Krishnadas has done here is something far more ambitious than simply revisiting the same household for more of the same warmth. He has shifted gears, quite sharply, actually, from the rooted family comedy of the first film into something considerably darker. B2M is, at its core, a dark comedy thriller. And the transition is smoother than you might reasonably expect from a filmmaker only on his second outing.
The premise picks up directly where the first film left off. Sasidharan Nair aka Sasi (Saiju Kurup) and his extended family, now including Rukmini (Sreeja Ravi) and her son, travel to Sreekandapuram to settle Bharathan Nair's second family into their new home. The early portions have a filler-ish quality. But Krishnadas is doing something deliberate here. These quieter moments accumulate weight as the film progresses, and the seemingly unhurried setup pays off when things begin properly unravelling. Krishnadas' screenplay, co-written with Vishnu R Pradeep, earns its twists because it lays its groundwork without wasting time.
And then the darkness arrives, in the shape of Govindaraja, played with tremendous relish by Suraj Venjaramoodu. He brings with him the revelation that the late Bharathan Nair was not merely a man with a secret second family. He was also the mastermind behind an elaborate temple scam, the specifics of which are best left for the film to reveal. What can be said is that the scheme is wickedly conceived, layering fabricated myth, manufactured ritual, and financial corruption into something that feels entirely plausible.
Where Bharathanatyam was a gentle satire on religious gullibility, B2M doubles down on that thread by making it the actual engine of its central conflict. The fake temple is not a subplot here. It is the reason everything falls apart. Krishnadas seems genuinely interested in what happens to institutions of faith when the wrong people are running them, and the film does not flinch from that discomfort even as it keeps the laughs coming consistently.
The sequel's most obvious reference point is Drishyam. A family covering up a crime, the mounting pressure of a secret that keeps getting heavier. But Krishnadas handles this material the way he handled the sentimental family-drama trope in the first film: by turning it into something closer to a spoof. He gently dismantles the genre's self-seriousness while still delivering genuine tension when it is needed.
Like how Bharathanatyam was in its own way a comedic riff on films like Balettan, B2M plays knowingly with Drishyam-esque conventions and weaves considerable humour from the spectacle of ordinary people attempting an extraordinary cover-up. The screenplay does take the cover-up seriously in some pleasing, grounded ways. Dead bodies, as any crime thriller viewer knows, begin to smell. The film actually addresses this, showing the characters improvising practical solutions to mask what others might notice. It is a small detail, but it respects the audience's intelligence.
The ensemble is as dependable as ever. Saiju Kurup anchors everything as Sasi and the larger family unit, Kalaranjini, Sreeja Ravi, Divya M Nair, Sruthy Suresh, Swathi Das Prabhu, and Nandu Poduval, functions with the precision of a well-rehearsed comedy troupe that has clearly grown more comfortable with each other.
Among the new faces, Baby Jean is the revelation. As Subhash, the nosy neighbour across the road who has an unfortunate proximity to everything the family is trying desperately to hide, he is an absolute menace and a genuine delight to watch. The film's habit of placing a disruptive Subhash-type character against every plan Sasi's family hatches is carried forward here with full awareness that it is fast becoming a franchise quirk. Convenient, yes, but Bharathanatyam had already established that coincidental disruptions are baked into its comic DNA, so it works. And bringing back Abhiram Radhakrishnan's Subhash from the first film to exist alongside the new one is a quietly funny joke.
Jagadish, in a smaller but noticeable part, slips rather effortlessly between seriousness and comedy, reminding you how reliable he can be in both spaces. Vinay Forrt appears in a cameo as a wonderfully goofy investigating officer. He has a scene where he encounters both of Bharathan Nair's sons, one from each family, and cannot help but remark aloud on how they look like identical twins despite having different mothers. It is the kind of moment that would feel contrived in a more straight-faced film, but the first instalment has long since trained you to accept its particular brand of absurd fate.
Technically, the sequel is a clear step up. Cinematographer Bablu Aju, who also shot the first instalment, seems more assured this time. The framing is more deliberate, with tension conveyed through considered visual choices, including at one memorable point a Dutch angle on the family that signals how far they have drifted from solid ground. Editor Shafeeque V B, also returning from the first film, keeps things tight and sharp, especially as the narrative begins to spiral. Electronic Kili's background score is well calibrated, knowing when to lean in and when to simply hold back, which is something the first film's score did not always manage.
Comparisons between the Bharathanatyam and B2M are not entirely fair, given how differently they are pitched. But the second instalment is undoubtedly the stronger piece of work. It takes what was established, pushes it in an unexpected direction, and arrives at something that feels genuinely earned. For a film that few probably saw coming, that is no small thing at all.