Bhoomi Movie Review: The film is serious, we process it as a comedy
Bhoomi Movie Review: The film is serious, we process it as a comedy

 Bhoomi Movie Review: The film is serious, we process it as a comedy

This "message-driven science fiction" makes you wonder science was fiction after all, and the only message that gets delivered is unintentional gags
Rating:(2 / 5)

Farming isn't new territory for Jayam Ravi. He’s been dabbling in it since Unakkum Enakkum in 2006. Back then, of course, his character was smiling and listening to jazz while ploughing the field. Fifteen years later, Tamil cinema now is inundated with farming films, and Ravi returns to his 'roots', but this time as an astronaut-turned-angry farmer… the sort of man who plucks the hair strand of his girlfriend, so he can analyse her feelings.

Cast: Jayam Ravi, Ronit Roy, Niddhi Agerwal

Director: Lakshmanan

Humans who can inhale carbondioxide, a deadly virus that can cause blindness, atom bombs on mars… anything is possible in this universe. Just when you think you are maxed out on astonishment, the film takes things to a whole new level by introducing you to an Illuminati kingpin. Being the first representative of the secret society in Tamil cinema, you would expect the cold businessman (Rohit Roy) to be a picture of menace and monstrosity. Instead, he feels like a sophisticated version of Child Chinna (Suraj’s Mappillai), who kills his assistant for interrupting a momo break. His juvenility doesn't end here. His supposedly 'mass' intro song is a rhyme that goes, "I am one, I am all. I rise, you fall". His name, by the way, is Richard Child, with his last name pretty much summarising his taste for tantrums.

Ravi's Bhoomi on the other hand is a desi hulk sans the green. Given his films in the last five years, it’s well-known that the actor can rage without breaking sweat. Though he rages for some pressing issues in the society and shoulders the role comfortably, the inanity of it all lets down his character, and his film. He is the sort to walk freely after a jailbreak, comfortably threaten ministers with life, pay millions of dollars as fine to NASA, start an agricultural revolution single-handedly, and of course, makes a secret society shiver. And this isn’t a film that can convincingly handle any of these large developments.

And oh, this film also has a heroine, who’s a hero-prop that participates in song montages. Her costumes reflect the mindset of the hero. From wearing short skirts and tank tops, she switches to dhavani once Bhoomi becomes a farmer. This is her only utility in this film.

Even looking beyond the juvenile writing and bad execution, the hypocrisy in the film is a major turn off. Bhoomi calls IT employees 'corporate adimaigal', but then he was an astronaut who worked for NASA, not ISRO. Though a song goes, "Pant-u koluthiputtu vettiyai nee madichu kattu", he struts around in jeans.

The only way I had fun with this film was by reading all the fake corporate labels, likely the handiwork of the film’s graphic designer. Products like Shaggy and Sadbury's turn out to be a source of amusement. But then, soon again, Bhoomi is screaming is heart out, Imman’s score tries to drown out his voice, and a so-called Illuminati member looks quite clueless about everything. You know what, if you’re in the mood, perhaps this film could be enjoyed as a comedy (of the unintentional variety, of course).

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