Bougainvillea

When Amal Neerad announced a new movie with Fahadh Faasil, I was excited to see what they'd have in store for us. Their combination in Iyobinte Pusthakam and Varathan produced some cinematic fireworks. This time they teamed up in a new psychological thriller Bougainvillea. Bougainvillea is thriller involving David Koshy, played by Fahadh Faasil, who is sets out to investigate missing girls and women from a town in Kerala where Reethu, played by Jyothirmayi, and her husband Dr. Royce Thomas, played by Kunchacko Boban live. Reethu and Royce meet with a car accident 8 years ago and as a result Reethu loses her memory. How is she related to the missing girls and why is David Koshy investigating Reethu despite her memory loss forms the rest of the story.

In typical Amal Neerad style, the movie is packed with technical brilliance. Be it the screenplay, cinematography, editing or sound. Amal leaves us enough breadcrumbs throughout the plot for us to guess what might be going on and we will be able to. As this is a psychological thriller and not a suspense thriller. The thrill comes from the "howdunnit?" instead of the "whodunnit?" aspect. I must say that Amal was successful in generating that interest till the climax.

This story is based on a novel called "Ruthinte Lokam" (Ruth's World) written by Lijo Jose, who co-wrote this movie with Amal Neerad. Jyothirmayi delivers a solid performance as ailing Reethu who is struggling to make sense of the happenings around her. So was Kunchacko Boban as Royce Thomas who stands support to her wife. Fahadh Faasil delivers an ok performance in a character that had barely any scope to perform.

While the movie keeps you engaging, it needed a better act 3 and climax to deliver that thrill. But unfortunately, this ended up being an average and unsatisfying watch.

I normally enjoy watching Amal Neerad's movies, even his Varathan, which despite being a copy of Straw Dogs, was eminently watchable. So I sat down to watch Bougainvillea with great expectations, but it turned out to be a massive letdown!

Amal is famous for his stylised movies, and thats what catches your eye in the beginning... and then as time passes, you realise that this movie is all style and no content!

Despite being a movie with 2.5 hours of run-time, Amal spends a lot of time laying the foundation of a mystery, introducing the characters, so much so that the movie drags on and on before he seems to realise that the time is almost up and he needs to wind up.

Amal and Fahad's ACP don't do any proper investigations, there are no clues to be found, no suspicious characters lurking about, no background check about anyone, no nothing.

Deeply saddened to see Fahad being wasted in an extended cameo playing the role of an ACP investigating the crime. Since Fahad is here, his role could have been built into a full-fledged meaty role - of an ACP who finally cracks the mystery. But Amal fails here too. Fahad's ACP does not detect anything... Amal's story and screenplay fails in this regard too.

Then who solves the actual mystery? Well, nobody! And maybe thats why the villain decides to come out and disclose the mystery himself - he must have got tired waiting for the police to catch him?

Amal too probably realised that the mystery has to be resolved, and we all need to go home, right? And he winds up in an almighty hurry!

Similar was the case with Sharfuddeen, another talent wasted as a taxi driver (!), with practically no dialogues to speak!

My rating is 4 stars out of 10. A movie with great expectations that tanked!

A pulpy mystery thriller with the typical Amal Neerad visual flair, nothing more, nothing less. Excluding the finer details, most of it was predictable but still engaging enough. The cast did well but didn't feel anyone did anything extraordinary. Can't believe Fahadh is doing such an insignificant cop role. The climax could've been choreographed better for more impact. The three-against-one scene could've been utilized better. With Amal Neerad's style, the film's problem is that it's neither grounded nor really stylish enough. A lot of the twists and turns ended up very flat. The flashback portions didn't feel really convincing. I expected a bit more than that, so I ended up feeling underwhelming. Still, the whole thing is stylish and atmospheric enough to be an okay watch.

The story was lacking in all regards. Unless an original plot is present for an investigation thriller movie, directors should stay away scripts. I can name 10 movies with the usual plot from the back of my head quite easily. I assure you 80 per cent of the audience who have not even watched the movie knows who the killer is or has doubts about that particular character being the killer.

Talking about the unnecessary scenes and slow motions , they degrade the movie in a whole new level. Unnecessary characters are being added. Actors who have great talent are left with roles which are not demanding enough.

People usually want to see talented actors given enough space to perform. Fahad Fazil's role in this movie can be done by any actor. Even if his character is absent throughout the movie, the story will move on.

Moving on to the music, apart from the first song, even the BGM is bad.

Talking about the cinematography. The usual style nothing special. Don't get why people are trying to hype up the movie when there is nothing good to it.

If you are trying to show a woman empowered movie, make it so that the main women characters have depth in it. Adding cheesy lines like "This is all it takes sister" doesn't do any good.

The movie for me was filled with a lot of expectations when the first half ended but the second half was predictable and it made movie boring and not mysterious film. I felt Fahad Fazil as an actor was wasted in the movie because he could have conveyed better emotions and been a better policeman. Two actors I liked were Jyothirmayi and Kunchako who did their roles well even through the movies story was pretty predictable. The bgm and songs by Sushin Shyam were the third saving grace in the movie and I personally think that he should move to other industries as he can be an asset to Indian film especially the pop and new generation songs.

Overall, a one time watchable film with wasted Fahad.