Movie: Bhooloham (Boologam)
Direction: N Kalyanakrishnan
Cast: Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Prakash Raj, Nathan Jones, Ponvannan, Narayan
Music: Srikanth Deva
Cinematographer: S R Sathish Kumar
Editor: V T Vijayan
Genre: Action
Rating: ∗∗∗
What is it about: Boxing is a sport which is underplayed than other sports India, in spite of this bitter fact there have been quite a few who have shined their presence globally. This movie here deals with 2 families who are arch rivals from their ancestor’s period, making boxing a tradition rather a sport. Being that said, Bhooloham (Jayam Ravi) takes an oath to win the match against their family’s enemy Arumugam, the reason being his father commits suicide not bearing the shame of his defeat. How this oath takes an ugly turn with corporates interfering forms the crux of the story directed by Kalyanakrishnan starring Jayam Ravi and Trisha.
Why it’s disappointing: In spite of having a solid plot the movie wanders too much making it quite tiring with annoying masala factors, which brings down the dignity of the subject. For instance the use of cheer girls during the game, which not even for one second seemed watchable, as it looked really vulgar. Then comes the first half which takes it sweet time to lock on to the crux of the story and keeps moving in and out without any sense.
The music was evasive couldn’t stand it, wonder what happened to Srikanth Deva who’s known for chartbusters. The background score was decent which appears during the fights.
Trisha was a waste of talent, as anyone could have done that role. All she did was to titillate the protagonist with her tattoos. She’s a great actress, unfortunately getting grinded in to masala movies of this sort.
The movie speaks of “Boxing” and kind of defeats the technicalities taking too much of cinematic liberty. That includes the coaches used to train the fighters and few fight sequences.
What to watch out for: The two pillars of the movie were the dialogues by Jananathan and a great performance by Jayam Ravi.
It was a big gamble for Jayam Ravi, as this movie was way behind on time and was put on hold for a very long period, regardless of that movie still felt new like it was shot at this time supported with some good cinematography by Sathish Kumar and quite a crisp edit by VT Vijayan.
Jayam Ravi as Bhooloham rocked the character at every level. He was under the skin of that character with utmost dedication. His slang and body language was top notch making it a very convincing one. Jayam Ravi has a dynamic screen presence and after the success of “Thani Oruvan” he got a great welcome at the cinema hall with huge applause and high pitch whistles. He gave an outstanding performance, which made this movie more worthy than what its worth for. He delivered a great amount of diligence which was applause worthy.
Then comes the dialogues written by Jananathan, he was sharp and made a great impact with words dished in most of the dialogues, which will make you applaud due to the rush it gives you. The dialogues becomes a strong suit of “Bhooloham”.
Prakash Raj is perfect for this kind of role, as he fits like its tailor made for him. He gives an equal run to the diligence shown by Jayam Ravi.
Among these desi actors one firangi grabs your attention, that’s none other than the great Nathan Jones who brings in few laughs due to his love for “Kuthu Dance” and looked kind of great in Veshti ‘n’ Sattai.
Verdict: Kalyanakrishnan’s boxing spectacle loses its appeal in the initial rounds, but gains momentum in the latter due to Jayam Ravi’s commendable performance and Jananathan powerful dialogues.
