Bheeshma Parvam movie review: Passable entertainment on a Godfather-scale canvas

Language: Malayalam Everything about Bheeshma Parvam is large: the grand-sounding title rooted in mythology that translates to “The Book of Bheeshma”, the time span it covers with its opening voiceover detailing the long history of the wealthy Anjoottikkaran family at the centre of this story, the cast, the number of characters and the gigantic physique that Mammootty – an imposing figure in real life anyway – is endowed with courtesy Anend C. Chandran’s camerawork.   At first, in fact, the film feels too expansive for comfort as the multiplicity of characters threatens to get confusing. Gradually though, some deft writing and acting establish each of these numerous individuals as a distinctive person whose relationship to the others – through blood, marriage or affection – becomes clearer with each passing scene. Mammootty here plays Michael, the patriarch of the Anjoottikkaran clan in Kerala in the 1980s or thereabouts. The period is indicated through political and cultural references. Michael’s mother and father were open-minded, as is evident from their embrace of the inter-community marital alliances some of their children opted for. Their offspring do not necessarily take after the parents. We see that from some of the relatives’ Islamophobic responses to Michael’s continuing warm equation with Muslim members of the extended family. At one level, Bheeshma Parvam feels like a generic tale of familial strife and a Godfather-like presiding deity – a _Malik_ without the sociological detail and insights of that lovely film. What distinguishes it from the crowd of films aspiring to achieve that scale and richness is the potpourri of religious and ethnic communities in the narrative. This is both Bheeshma Parvam’s selling point and its Achilles heel. As with his film   _Varathan_ ,  here too Amal Neerad has a good concept but is unable to dig deep.   [caption id=“attachment_10426181” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Soubin Shahir in a still from Bheeshma Parvam[/caption] As plots are hatched, old enemies are recruited into the rift and blood is spilt, Bheeshma Parvam places a spotlight on anti-Muslim sentiment among Malayali Christians, indicts the community for continuing to recognise caste although Christianity itself does not, and highlights the potential for Christian-Muslim amity in the midst of prejudice through Michael’s ties with Fathima (Nadiya Moidu), Ajas (Soubin Shahir) and Ami (Sreenath Bhasi). As the world and India are being torn apart by sectarian divides, as casteist, Islamophobic, anti-minority forces on India’s national stage become more vocal by the day, social critiques of chauvinism are essential in cinema. Amal Neerad and Devadath Shaji’s writing does not have the intellectual capacity to take the point any further than these basics though, and their representation of various communities ends up being simplistic and unintelligent.   The beauty of most Malayalam cinema these days is that the representation of religious minorities is so rampant, and Muslims and Christians are normalised to such a degree that their presence in a film is no longer worthy of comment. In Bheeshma Parvam though, religious and ethnic identities are heavily emphasised through dialogue and symbols. And this is the sum total of the portrayals: there are only a handful of Hindus in the script and every single one of them is a vendetta-seeking villain; the Christians range from good (Michael, his mother, his sister, his niece Rachel) to outright evil, epitomised by the corrupt Father Simon who incites violence and the drug-taking, alcohol-swilling, incompetent Peter who ill-treats his wife and leers at a man over whom he wields power; meanwhile, the sole Tamilian in the story is involved in murder conspiracies, hits his wife and sleeps around; and all the Muslim characters are loyal, loving and loveable.   [caption id=“attachment_10426221” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Shine Tom Chacko & Sreenath Bhasi from Bheeshma Parvam[/caption] Negative stereotyping in cinema tends to get noticed more than positive othering, but the latter too is dangerous since it indicates over-compensation for deep-seated prejudice pervading a society. We have seen this in north Indian cinema, with pre-1990s Hindi films dominated by saintly, all-sacrificing Muslims, giving way to subtle villainising in the following two decades and, in recent years, a steady stream of overt, unabashed Islamophobia on the Hindi screen. The all-good Muslims of Bheeshma Parvam indicate the writers’ failure or unwillingness to recognise that fair representation does not require misrepresentation.

If you are not too keen to exercise your grey cells, however, there is enough happening between the several players in Bheeshma Parvam at a sufficiently engaging pace and enough interesting actors on screen at all times to make this a passable entertainer.  

Mammootty’s star presence looms large over the cast just as Michael looms over the lives of all those present in Bheeshma Parvam, yet The Big M does not monopolise this narrative. Far from it. Several members of this massive ensemble cast – Soubin Shahir in particular and Shine Tom Chacko – get enough space to shine at different moments. I especially enjoyed watching Soubin and Sreenath Bhasi displaying their impressive dancing skills while moving to Sushin Shyam’s pleasant, foot-tapping song Parudeesa. Soubin and Sreenath can dance. Really well. (As does Anagha, who is also featured in this passage.)   Sreenath is a formidable bundle of talent: he has also sung this number. Bheeshma Parvam resides somewhere on the cusp between the Malayalam New New Wave that has taken India by storm during the pandemic and the conventional commercial cinema that continues to get an audience in Kerala. The film’s fight scenes are stylised, yet not repugnantly bloody and in-your-face. The leading man is lionised, but not to a nauseous extent. Women are given some space, but the action is entirely in the hands of men. It is a polished production, but not distractingly glossy. If I had to pick a category, I’d put Bheeshma Parvam in the not-bad-not-great slot. It’s okay.   Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars) 

This review was first published when Bheeshma Parvam was released in theatres in March 2022. The film is streaming on Disney+Hotstar. 

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial