Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana review

Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana is a detective drama that features young hero Shiva Kandukuri in the lead role. Purushotham Raaj directs this film which has music by Sricharan Pakala and Vijai Bulganin. Snehal Jangala, Shashidhar Kasi, and Karthik Mudimbi have produced this film.

Story

A serial killer is on the loose in the Andhra and Karnataka border region. He keeps killing women and takes away their heads leaving a Dishti Bomma as a clue. The cops have no clue and in comes a small-time detective Bhaskar(Shiva Kandukuri) to solve the case. The more he digs deep into the case, Bhaskar comes to know that these killings have a connection to him. The rest of the story is about how he nabs the criminal and solves the mystery behind the killings.

Performances

Shiva Kandukuri is trying hard to make an impression in the Telugu film industry. When compared to his previous films, he is a lot better in Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana. After a long time, Shafi is seen in a key role and tries hard to impress. Devi Prasad was okay as a cop. Rashi Singh, who was seen as the journalist was also okay in her limited role.

Technicalities

What catches your attention in Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana is the production design. Even though the film is made on a low budget, it looks rich. The background score is one of the highlights as it elevates the drama in the second half quite well. The dubbing is not that great in many scenes. Gowtam’s camerawork is decent and showcases the unique theme of the film decently. The editing is also dull in many areas and the screenplay clicks only from the pre-climax.

Thumbs Up

Basic storyline
A few thrills

Thumbs Down

Dull first half
Lack of strong characters
Weak narrative

Analysis

Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana has a storyline that looks sharp on paper. A murder mystery is given a mythological touch in the second half. But execution-wise, there are so many issues in narration. The inexperience of the director is clearly shown in the film as he starts Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana like any other detective thriller. A series of murders, a serial killer, and a young detective trying to solve the case, such scenes we have seen in so many films to date and the same happens here as well.

But things turn on its head once the hero’s story is linked to the proceedings and a mythology angle is brought into the narrative. Things start making a lot of sense. But still, there is so much that the director Purushottam could have done in terms of drama. The one showcased does not create a solid impact. The conflict point lacks clarity and more experienced actors would have made a world of good to this film. All this happens thanks to the lackluster first half. The scenes are disjointed and the comedy showcased looks forced into the narrative.

Technically, the sound mixing in a few scenes is bad and this irritates the audience for a while. One more drawback of the film is its predictability in the initial portions. Also, the major twist of who the killer is, one can guess where it is coming from. But the director Purushottam needs to be credited for showcasing the mythology scenes well. The connection that he establishes with the story is thought of quite well. The last half an hour of the film has decent thrills and has been executed on a proper note.

The biggest villain of Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana is the pacing which is quite slow. The runtime is yet another issue of Bhoothaddam Bhaskar Narayana and as scenes look disjoint, things start looking pale most of the time. If the detective thriller had been narrated in a proper structural manner and a crisp runtime, the effect would have been a lot better. But the director chose to have his style in narration and this leaves the thriller half-baked.

Bottom Line – Half-Baked Thriller

Rating: 2.25/5