His films have by and large traversed the rural terrain. But Bharatiraja has occasionally broken away to do some engaging urban-based murder-suspense-action thrillers like 'Sigappu Rojakkal' and 'Tik Tik tik'. Now the director returns after a fairly long gap with 'Bommalattam'. Depicting a film shoot, it revolves around the travails of an eccentric film director Rana.
In this film within a film, Rana (Patekar), is searching for a new heroine. He chances on Trishna (Rukmini), as she dances for some tourists. He signs her for his film, and hides her from media glare. As the shooting progresses, a couple of murders take place at the shooting spots. And Trishna is killed in a car accident as Rana tries to whisk her away from the hounding media.CBI officer Varma (Arjun) interrogates an injured Rana at the hospital. Varma suspects Rana’s hand in the deaths. As Rana narrates his story, the truth emerges. The climax springs an unanticipated surprise.
It’s an intriguing suspense-filled plot, as Rana and his crew shift from the city to the village and to Malaysia. The film is a bilingual in Tamil and hindi (‘Cinema’). But while some of the scenes have been shot in Tamil, a few others have been dubbed from Hindi with poor lip sync. License plates on vehicles too seem to mixed up. A little more care could have been taken. Such slips are jarring, from someone of Bharatiraja’s calibre.
Rana whisking away Trishna had been a spontaneous act, but he informs Varma it had been pre-planned. Patekar is mesmerizing as Rana. Scenes showing Rana shooting could have been more creative.
Arjun is cool and composed in a neat portrayal.Rukmini’s grace and rawness adds charm to her portrayal of Trishna. It’s commendable that Bharatiraja has made an engrossing film in a contemporary style.
expresso@epmltd.com