Bell Movie Review: Hard to extract any entertainment out of this wreckage

Bell is a blind man who works as a tour guide in a hill station. With such an unusual name in a thriller film, we eagerly await the reason behind such a curious name for a protagonist. Is it a clue to a mystery? Is that somehow connected to his visual impairment? Is there a cool backstory? It is later revealed that Bell’s father named him so simply because he was a fan of the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. There is no agreeable reason as to why this name was given and this brand of randomness is peppered throughout the writing. When the name is used, it effortlessly pulls a chuckle out of us at unintended moments. 

Director: R Vengat Bhuvan
Cast: Guru Somasundaram, Nitish Veera, Sreedhar

Bell begins with the police investigating a series of murders. They begin investigating Bell and his friends and go on to uncover a vast conspiracy, with ties to a lucrative businessman in the Pharma industry who also happens to be a godman of sorts, played by Guru Somasundaram. The titular character is played by Nithish Veera, who is best known for appearing in films like Pudhupettai. Unfortunately, following his sudden demise in 2021, a portion of his character is played by dance choreographer Sreedhar. The makers try to rework the film by telling us that the scenes where Nitish Veera portrays Bell are how the visually impaired Bell imagines himself to be in his mind's eye while the Bell in real life looks like Sreedhar. To support this notion, an entirely new set of supporting cast members are brought to play the same roles, depending upon whether we see Sreedhar’s portrayal of Bell or Nitish’s version of Bell. Albeit complicated, the makers need to be commended for attempting a creative solution to work around the death of an actor. Unfortunately, the drop in quality and the inconsistencies become hard to ignore. Even if you look beyond the understandable problem, the film fails to earn merit in any aspect of its creation. 

Guru Somasundaram, who proved his mettle with films like Joker and Minnal Murali, sticks out like a sore thumb in the film. It is evident that he is trying to give it his all, despite being handed absurd dialogues and (what seems to be) focus-less direction. Despite his repeated attempts to somehow dredge an honest performance out of it, the film ultimately wins in dragging him down. Actor/Choreographer Sreedhar certainly needs to be appreciated for stepping up after Nitish’s demise to take up his role and help finish the project. Unfortunately, his portrayal of a blind person, with a caricaturish body language, looks more laughable than it is believable. The needlessly convoluted storyline somehow sidesteps any exciting elements that might accidentally pop up in such intentionally overstuffed stories. It could be argued that the film could have fared better had Nitish been able to complete his portions. His acting is evidently one of the very few things that seem to be professional in the film.

Bell keeps talking about ancient Tamil medicine and how corporates are trying to steal it. Upon closer inspection, it is clear that the film has no clarity on what it wants to be or what it is about. The incompetency is evident from the very beginning; with flat visuals, amateur performances from the supporting cast, and an overall disregard for the art of storytelling.

Bell is a haphazardly strung-together collection of ideas that the makers thought were interesting. Unfortunately, this interest doesn't really ring a bell with the audience.