Bhaskar Oru Rascal movie review: Arvind Swami can't save this escapist entertainer with no logic

Director Siddique, along with his then partner Lal, operated under the Siddique-Lal brand in Malayalam cinema in the 1980s and ’90s and dished out mega hits. They later split and went their separate ways, but Siddique continued his dream run in commercial cinema and made super hits in other languages like Tamil and Hindi. Siddique’s formula was simple: make the original version in Malayalam and then rework it to suit the taste of other language audiences. For example, his film Bodyguard (2010) in Malayalam with Dileep in the lead worked well at the box office, and it was later remade as Kaavalan (2011) in Tamil with Vijay. The film was also remade in Hindi as Bodyguard (2011) with Salman Khan. All the versions went on to be super hits at the box-office. [caption id=“attachment_4473059” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amala Paul and Arvind Swami in a still from the film.[/caption] Now he is back with the Tamil film Bhaskar Oru Rascal starring Arvind Swami. Swami’s role was made memorable by Mammootty in the Malayalam original Bhaskar The Rascal (2015). However, the story of Bhaskar Oru Rascal is outdated and the presentation lacks the finesse of modern commercial entertainers. Bhaskar (Arvind Swami) is a hot-headed business tycoon with an anger issue and is also a widower. He lives with his level headed father (Nasser) and his son Akash (Master Raghavan). Akash’s best friend at school is Shivani (Baby Nainika), whose dad is said to have “died in an accident”. She lives with her rich mom Hima (Amala Paul), a kind-hearted lady. The children of the single parents bond over their common situation and they hatch a plan to bring their dad and mom together by playing cupid. However, there’s a blast from the past in the form of a villain (Aftab Shivdasani), which leads to more complications. The first half of the film provides some entertainment as Bhaskar gets into a lot of mess due to his anger management issues. Some comic relief is provided by Robo Shankar, Soori and Ramesh Kanna who play his assistants. Post interval though, the comedy track falls flat as the action scenes start rolling. The trouble here is Siddique still believes that the ’80s commercial template will work with today’s audiences, who have long moved on. In the first half, the film is a comedy, with romance and songs thrown in; while in the second half it becomes an action-packed film with criminal gangs and a terrorist angle thrown in. The violence is a bit much for a film claiming to have family values. And the director makes the kids in the film talk like mature adults, which is hard to digest. Arvind Swami is seen for the first time in a mass hero avatar, trying to salvage the film. Amala Paul looks chic, while Master Raghavan and Baby Nainika are irritating beyond a point. On the whole, Bhaskar Oru Rascal is like an ’80s escapist entertainer with no logic.