Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam

Bharathanatyam 

is a comedy family drama. Since it’s a Malayalam film, let’s skip the cast details and get straight to the point. This is actually the first part of a sequel setup. I watched it in reverse order, first the second part and only then the first part. So let’s talk about it in that same order. First, 

Mohiniyattam

According to the story, Sasi’s entire family accidentally ends up killing Govindarajan. Sasi is not at home when it happens, but after returning, he takes responsibility like a captain and struggles to help his family hide the murder. Basically, if Drishyam was made as a comedy spoof, this is how it would look. The biggest challenge here is that the family is shown as a huge joint family, and that works really well.

Sasi’s father has two wives. Sasi and his group are from the first wife’s side. Without their knowledge, the father has secretly maintained another family in Sreekandapuram while continuing life with the first family in Cherthala. Only when he reaches his deathbed does this truth come out to the first family. That separate issue itself forms the story of the first part, Bharathanatyam.

But Mohiniyattam is completely built like a thriller comedy. Govindarajan is someone the entire town fears. Everyone believes he can manipulate and cheat them through smooth talking. He scams people by collecting money in the name of getting things done but never actually doing anything. When he tries to scam Sasi’s family, in anger, the whole family joins together and kills him almost like twisting a chicken’s neck. From that moment, Sasi becomes Georgekutty and Georgekutty becomes Sasi. It is basically a comic version of Drishyam, and it is done really well.

Malayalam films always have a strong sense of nativity. When that natural culture combines with storytelling, the film shines in a completely different way. That is one of the main reasons Malayalam cinema feels so charming.

Suraj Venjaramoodu plays Govindarajan. He is alive only for the first quarter of the movie. After that, he spends most of the film acting as a dead body. Even then, there are scenes where the body slips and his head bangs against a nearby table. Watching those scenes genuinely makes us feel the actor must have endured real pain while performing.

Similarly, in the first part, Sasi’s father mostly acts while lying down or sitting because of his condition. His reactions to all the conversations happening around him are comedy at its peak. Especially when the truth comes out that he had published a newspaper ad claiming his first wife was mentally unstable just so he could marry again, his reactions in those scenes are hilarious.

More than the families hiding each other inside the same house without outsiders knowing, the bigger comedy comes when they realize there is no proof that the first wife is legally the wife, while all documents support only the second wife. The entire family then panics, trying to stop the property from going to the second family. Those moments become major highlights of the story.

Another fun element is that one son from the first wife’s side and another son from the second wife’s side look exactly alike. The family keeps struggling to hide one of them till the end, creating nonstop comedy. In the middle of all these family problems, there is also a murder to cover up. The neighbor from the opposite house slowly starts suspecting things. Then both families together try to hide the body, hide the identical brothers, dispose of the corpse, and survive the chaos. The whole film becomes one long fun ride.

The first part is available on YouTube, though without subtitles. I watched it directly since I don’t need subtitles for Malayalam. Honestly, Malayalam is not that difficult to understand. The second part, Mohiniyattam, is available on Netflix. Both films are good family entertainers and worth watching together.

And one more thing I remembered only now in both parts, Sasi doesn’t even have a heroine. There is no romantic pairing at all. Maybe they’ll introduce one in a third part, if it ever happens. Not sure whether a third film will come, but if it does, it could be really fun.

See ya!