Review – Bhaskar Oru Rascal

Film: Bhaskar Oru Rascal
Director: Siddique
Cast:Arvind Swamy, Amala Paul, Baby Nainika, Master Raghavan and others
Music: Amresh Ganesh

Baskar oru Rascal, the Tamil remake of a Malayalam, is supposed to be a proper commercial fun-filled entertainer with a heartwarming tale. But what it ends up being is a farcical, exaggerated, boring if not exhausting exercise.

The film begins with a top scientist being murdered. From there, the story shifts to the life of Bhaskar (Arvind Swamy), an extremely rich but ill-mannered widower, who relies heavily on muscle power to settle deals. Bhaskar’s son Akash(Master Raghavan) and Shivani (Baby Nainika) are friends in school.

Both Akash and Shivani have contrasting natures and characters. While Akash is soft-spoken, well mannered, polite, diplomatic and sensible, Shivani is loud, brash, and outspoken. They have nothing in common except the fact that they are both children of single parents. Yes, Shivani’s mother, Anu (Amala Paul), is a single woman. While Shivani admires Akash’s dad for his violent ways, Akash admires Shivani’s mom for her soft-spoken and caring nature.

Both children long for the love of the parent they’ve never had. Akash longs for the love of a mom while Shivani craves the security only a father can provide. At one point, the children have an idea. They want their parents to wed each other and thereby, become a proper family. They go about planning ways and means to make their parents fall in love with each other. Will the kids succeed in their mission? Bhaskar Oru Rascal answers this question.

The film has more negatives than positives. First, the story is narrated in such a fashion that viewers have several questions arising in their minds pertaining to the plot. Next, most incidents in the film are grossly exaggerated thereby lowering the believability factor by a considerable margin. In other words, half of what you see on screen keep reminding you that, ‘This does not happen in real life’. For instance, the very fact that two young kids connive to get their parents married, at an age when one wonders if they even understand the term wedding, is something hard to digest! Then, everything that pertains to the murder and the gangs fighting for his prized findings are hazy and illogical.

The way the story is narrated leaves a lot to be desired. You are made to think and fill in the gaps in the storyline, with assumptions and presumptions. By the time, you are halfway into the second half of the movie, you wish the film would end.

To give you another example of how exaggerated the film is, there is this fight sequence that happens in a mall. Arvind Swamy rides a bike that has been kept on display in the mall in this fight sequence to fight bad guys harrassing Amala Paul. The fight has been so badly conceived and shot, that it leaves you mildly amused and greatly annoyed.

The actors have done a fairly decent job. Both Arvind Swamy and Amala Paul seem to have delivered what the director wanted of them. Amresh Ganesh’s music and Vijay Ulaganath’s visuals too are just about okay in the film.

However, the manner in which the story has been narrated and the way the film has been presented undo all the good work put in.

In all, Bhaskar Oru Rascal leaves you fuming and frustrated