Bomb film assessment: Arjun Das, Kaali Venkats anti-sectarian drama fails to construct on its potential

The first act of Vishal Venkat’s sophomore movie, Bomb, bears many hallmarks of a novel social satire. The movie units up a premise akin to Madonne Ashwin’s Mandela, however with a Swiss Army Man-esque twist that makes you sit proper up. There’s once more a city divided because of sectarianism and its associated politics, however this time the burden falls on a corpse — you learn that proper — to make the townsmen see sense.

The movie begins with a voiceover narrating how Kaalakammaipatti, a rural city in Tamil Nadu, bloomed in prosperity, broadly believed to be because of their native deity, who used to bless the devotees yearly following a three-part ritual. Which was the case not less than till an incident that sowed hatred within the hearts of the individuals. An enormous sacred rock cut up, leaving the city divided into two sects — into Kaalapatti and Kammaipatti — a lower that grew deeper and deeper, as they blamed one another for why the ‘actual deity’ stopped blessing them.

In the current day, the city stands as a relic of communalism. The townsmen merely can’t put their variations apart, even for the betterment of all. The authorities officers, like an sincere IAS officer (Abhirami), have taken discover of the social unrest within the area, however their efforts finish in useless. Then comes essentially the most hilarious twist: an alcoholic atheist (Kaali Venkat, as Kathiravan), who abhors all of the customs and thinks the city is stuffed with dimwits, dies, and his physique, which sometimes farts (and therefore the title of the film!), is believed to fulfil a prophecy signalling the return of the deity. The two communities find yourself preventing over who the deity belongs to.

Stuck within the center between the 2 teams are Kathiravan’s pal Manimuthu (Arjun Das, who offers his all), surprisingly the one one who can elevate the ‘deity’, and Prabha (Shivathmika Rajashekar), Kathiravan’s sister. Mani believes that his pal is alive, however Prabha refrains from taking her brother to a hospital, the explanation behind which kinds the crux of the story.

Kudos to Vishal Venkat (who made a formidable debut with Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal), Bomb doesn’t maintain again in taking digs on the many superstitions and stigmas we discover in our world. The very introduction to this world takes a dig at how castes are shaped and the way futile the variations between males of caste may be. One of the principle arcs revolves round a younger boy named Yogesh, whose sleepwalking drawback lands him in bother; it’s a beautiful commentary on how casteism tears aside such tender souls for daring to dream.

The coronary heart is in the appropriate place, and Bomb has the appropriate characters voicing the appropriate issues — like a woman youngster whose protest in opposition to her dad and mom’ hypocrisy garners all of the applause, or a problematic determine who understands what shedding mild on darkness actually means, or a dialogue from Abhirami on an neglected function that religion performs in society. Even Mani will get a terrific scene to shine, which has most likely the one morsel of typical heroism the script permits for.

However, what Bomb misses out on proper from the start is a deftness in mixing nuanced social commentary with satire. Yes, now we have a lifeless physique making air biscuits, a politician (Nassar) who sees cash in fuelling social tensions, the 2 egoistic leaders of the teams, and so forth, however why did the humour dry up so rapidly? Comedian Bala Saravanan seems as a YouTuber who’s nervous about his channel’s low subscriber depend, and after some extent, this arc solely will get fairly annoying. It doesn’t assist that many subplots exist solely to promote sentimentality, resembling one revolving round an aged girl and a pair, which strains for emotion solely to ship shallow melodrama.

The largest problem, the one which may spoil the entire deal for many, is how the movie fails to correctly set up the people from the 2 sects, which is why you want a couple of moments to know a younger man’s drawback with a childless couple. The director shows title playing cards with respective sects proper to start with, however given the variety of characters in play, they hardly register. In truth, many interpersonal dynamics are left ambiguous. We are repeatedly advised of a tragedy that Mani and Kathiravan suffered of their pasts, however we don’t get to know extra about it. You surprise why the narrator left that tragedy out whereas narrating the city’s historical past. This is a matter, since this thread proves pivotal in understanding Mani’s take care of the alternative group and why he’s allowed to freely roam round and be pals with Kathiravan and his sister.

If something, Bomb is a superb showcase of how writing an intriguing premise and organising a world aren’t sufficient. The textual content should organically construct on the concepts, and the filmmaking wants finesse to translate promising concepts onto the display screen. Above all, not each emotion must be spoon-fed. Maybe all we want is a few religion within the viewers.

Bomb is presently operating in theatres