Various shades of humour have always been used to serve as a reflection of society. Be it roast, self-deprecating, or dark humour, it is the mischievousness that comes with telling a joke that leaves an imprint on the audience’s mind. They say, if you look hard enough , jokes, just like ideas, can come from anywhere. And director Vishal Venkat found his upcoming social comedy film in a rather unique place. “The spark for Bomb came from a dead body farting,” says Vishal, adding, “But I didn’t want the story to be just that. I wanted to explore different avenues, one of which was that God might given the gift of fire to humans, but the choice of using it for light or destruction lies in our hands. So the film deals with belief a lot.” Bomb, which stars Arjun Das, Kaali Venkat, and Shivathmika follows the story of a dead man, whose continuous flatulence inspires people from his village to worship him as a God.
But beneath this mischievous idea, lies a sincere core, and Vishal quotes a line from Anbe Sivam, “Aathigam pesum adiyaaruku ellam sivame anbagum, naathigam pesum nallavanuke anbe sivam aagum (For theists, god is love, and for atheists, who believe in the goodness in people, love is god.) “But there were certain real-life incidents which made me uncomfortable, and that inspired me to write Bomb,” shares Vishal. “An example of which would be, at a school, children of one religion were chanting hymns to disturb a group of students from another religion who were keeping to themselves, while praying. So the question that naturally arose was, ‘Why try to spoil a person’s belief system?’” But why present such an intense idea as a comedy? “Because everybody should be able to understand it. Cinema is all about communication, and it should be presented in a way where the viewer is ready to listen to what I say. Comedy is one such element that connects a varied demographic.”
For Arjun Das, Bomb is a film that is helping him stay on course, in breaking away from his tough man personality. The actor who made his entry into comedy in the recent Ajith Kumar-fronted blockbuster, Good Bad Ugly (2025), confesses he is happy that he is able to play different characters. “I think every film opens up new avenues for you, and similarly, after Bomb, I hope a few doors open for me” Speaking about his character, Arjun says, “I did not have a lot scenes where I got to be funny as Manimuthu is a very vulnerable person and very anxious. I was very afraid to be typecast as the negative character in the film, but working with Halitha Shameem, Vasanthabalan, and Shanthakumar, gave me the chance to work in different genres.”
Apart from Arjun, Kaali Venkat is also experimenting with his character Kathiravan, in Bomb. He plays the dead man, whose continuous flatulence, leads to antics that make up Bomb’s story. When asked about the experience of playing a corpse in the film, the actor says, “The director didn’t have to explain any scene to me at all because all I had to do was just sit on a chair and keep still, even as chaos reigned around me. And I persevered because only then would I be paid.” But the film didn’t corner Kaali into being still for its entirety. The trailer for the film hinted at Kathiravan expressing his strong opinions (in front of a group of bulls) before dying. “The only shortcoming I had, while working on this film, was that I couldn’t improvise,” shares Kaali Venkat, who goes on to say, “Even then this was a role unlike anything I had done before. I felt playing Kathiravan was very important to me as an actor”
If Marimuthu and Kathiravan are two extremes, then Shivathmika’s Prabhavati is the balance between them. Speaking about working in Bomb, Shivathmika says, “I hadn't worked on anything for almost two years because anything I wanted to do, they wouldn’t cast me in it, and anything that came my way wasn’t something I wanted to pursue. But I loved playing Prabhavati because while shooting certain scenes in the movie I realised that I am playing the part that I always wanted to play, and I was happy to be here.” When asked if she was able to explore her comedic chops with this part, she says, “There was no comedy involved with Prabhavati, and the character is almost stoic, with only a single emotion being expressed by her in major portions.”
Bomb is set in a fictional village of Kaalakammaipatti that allowed the makers to play around with the setting. “This is a story that happens in every corner of the world. See, the us vs them is happening even in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. So, instead of addressing specific people in a specific place, I wanted to address all people. That's why I created a unique space that is relatable,” says Vishal, adding, “Comedy is one such element that can make people laugh and think at the same time. But even beyond a lot of serious topics that the film covers, the film is light, and I hope the audience gets out of the theatre with the same light feeling.”
