Bachelor Party - All about boys and their toys

Theatre - Anjali, Trivandrum
Show - 6:00 PM, 16-Jun-2012
Status - Houseful


Booze. Babes. Buddies. And a lot of Guns. Probably the only toy missing is a bike.

Lot of negative reviews for the film. After reading a few of those, I got a hint regarding the climax. As I had expected, I didn't feel too bad about it at all. Bachelor Party is my favourite Amal movie since Big B, possibly eclipsing Big B as well.

Movie starts of in a typical 5 boys growing up into 5 good friends routine with a childhood visual thrown in for good measure. An enjoyable title card later (the song visuals I had hated before became really good after adding the cards), we are thrust into the midst of a crisis. The rest of the film follows up on how they tackle the crisis.

Amal Neerad has improved as a director. No more gimmicky shots which halt the follow of the film like Anwar. Really good use of slomo and fast motion in drinking scenes. Film is technically far ahead of other films. The typical Amal Neerad look and feel is intact in Bachelor Party. Bachelor Party gives a comic book vibe(not your Balarama, more like Sin City) which is rather unseen in our industry. Camera is excellent and superb editing adds to the film. Gunplay is as usual top notch. Moments I loved the most: The five of them drinking with Vinayakan's paambu dance, Prithviraj's stunt scene in pre-climax, Gunplay in climax. No matter what the criticism is, Amal has done a good job.

For those who saying the film lacks a story and a script should look closely at other films as well. When Ranjith does a film, people come up and say that story is very simple. I found more story in BP than in Spirit to be honest. Spirit had a lot more scope in development and could make the viewer think due to the genre. Bachelor Party for its genre has enough story and a decent screenplay. The writing really shines in dialogues. Some excellent one-liners. Good job by Unni.R and Santhosh Echikaanam. They could have produced a better screenplay which would have been universally liked with a likeable climax. Currently, the climax is over the top and does not appeal to the majority.

Indran and Rahman stole the show in my opinion. Fantastic chemistry between the two. Rahman looked absolutely stunning in the climax with a cigarette in his mouth and gun in hand. Asif Ali was good. He had an ease in his acting which I never felt before. Still cannot carry a film though. Mani and Vinayakan were good, but Vinayakan had very little space. Both villains were good. Ramya Nambeesan and Padmapriya were reduced to item dances, both of which I found to be feasts to the eyes. Prithviraj had a decent cameo with a brilliant fight scene. Nithya had little to do and was decent in her role.

Music was good. I liked all the songs when I heard in the theatre. Very good visualisation by Amal. Editing is top notch and BGM is excellent. Art is usual Amal Neerad stuff which still looks fresh.

TL;DR: Bachelor Party is a fun ride till it reaches a controversial climax.

Rating: Good.

The Intoxicating Spirit!

Theatre: Sreekumar, Trivandrum
Show: Matinee, 14-06-2012
Status: A full house

I had high expectations on Spirit. Mohanlal-Ranjith combo after the latter moved on to meaningful cinema. After the film, I was extremely happy with what I had seen; but I was also left with a lot of lingering thoughts on how it could have been better. Like Pranchiyettan, Spirit places all the eggs in a single basket. A film entirely reliant on the lead actor to make it special.

What I would call post-Kayyoppu second half syndrome strikes again. Underwhelming and lazy writing in the second half. Slightly evident in Paleri(quite contentious though), Pranchiyettan, and now in Spirit. I thought Indian Rupee was relatively free from this. Take this with a bucket of salt though. These films are still miles ahead of other contemporary films. Its just that, Ranjith can do a lot better. Its a bit more damning when you see the kind of threads lying around in the script which could make for even more compelling cinema. Relationship between Raghunandan and his son, I felt could have been used in way more effective manner. Nandu's story felt very undercooked and rushed to be honest. Ranjith could have woven in a middle-class character which honestly would have been an accurate reflection of an everyday Malayalee.

Heartening to see Ranjith use more visuals to converse with the viewer along with his trademark dialogues. A couple of them were overdone though. Lal enjoying the sights and sounds of daily life without the effect of spirit was simply superb.

Mohanlal carries the film throughout with a remarkable performance. His best in a long time and he underlines his greatness yet again. The performance simply proves why he is head and shoulders above his contemporaries. Not just his trademark drunk scenes, the subtle change of emotions when Shankar breaks the bad news to him, his high power monologues in the talk show etc are a treat for the viewers. I have been drawing parallels between Raghunandan and Dr. House (from the eponymous TV series) ever since I watched the film. I always wanted to see Lal in such a role and I guess this is the closest we would get. What would have made the film even more gripping would have been Lal's battle against Spirit similar to how Dr. House battles his vicodin addiction. This battle got only a few scenes, though they were quite good. Ranjith could have written in a combination between Lal and Thilakan here.

Shankar Ramakrishnan was apt for the role. He did a good job of what was on offer. Kaniha was also good. Sidharth Bharathan had a good outing, which should have been an expanded role. Nandu had a good role after a long time. Heartening to see someone fresh. Thilakan was criminally underused. Whatever little we saw was terrific. Combination scenes with Lal would have been an absolute treat. Tini Tom get a good role yet again and delivers it to perfection.

Camera work was adequate, with some good use of lighting to convey mood. Editing was at par with the demand of the film. BGM was also good. Songs had great lyrics. But I didn't find the songs to be hummable in spite of having good music. Artwork is excellent with a wonderful little Koshy's bar, a well designed Casa Rosa resort, and Raghunandan's house strewn with a wide variety of poison.

TL;DR: Spirit remains an excellent watch despite of its shortcomings in the script. Must watch for an amazing performance from Mohanlal and yet another good effort from the master, Ranjith.

Rating: Very Good

Postscript: What I ultimately wanted after watching Spirit was to see Mohanlal play Kuttiyappan in Leela penned by Ranjith. It was amazing to see the result of the work by the two of them and I believe that Ranjith+Mohanlal in Leela would be totally awesome.