Karthik Varma’s Bham Bholenath (2015) Movie Review

Star Cast : Navdeep, Naveen Chandra, Pooja Jhaveri, Prachi, Shreya, Pradeep, Kireeti Damaraju
Movie : Bham Bholenath
Director : Karthik Varma Dandu
Producer : Shirupuri Rajesh Varma
Censor Certificate: UA
Runtime: 129 Minutes

Vishnu (Navdeep) wannabe software professional, who wanna transform after going through loads of pressures from Sri Lakshmi (Pooja Javeri). Krishna (Naveen Chandra) aspiring don steals antiques for Satteji (Posani Krishna Murali). Even he starts liking Sri Lakshmi, daughter of Posani. On the other hand, Rocky (Pradeep) and Roshan (Kireeti) stay in live in relationship, with loads of drugs. Vishnu takes 2 Lakhs from the local goon Vasool Raja (Pankaj Kesari). In the same time, Krishna steals African stuff for his final deal with Satteji. Luckily both receive more than what they have anticipated from the deals. What exactly happened in their life? Who will marry Sri Lakshmi? All these form the rest of the storyline.

Performance wise, none standout, as the poor script doesn’t allow them to. Surprisingly, RJ Pradeep & Kireeti have delivered decent act in this film as drug addicts. Despite poorly written characters Navdeep and Naveen Chandra have justified their roles and both look good. Pooja is cute as Sri Lakshmi. Prachi and Shreya play the supporting roles convincingly. Pankaj Kesari, Dhanush, Thagbothu Ramesh are okay in their limited roles.

The story by Karthik Varma isn’t half bad but these characters creak too much to be interesting company. Karthik Varma has tried to make a quirky urban dark comedy without resorting to the clinched dark romantic trappings. But sadly he fails at executing it properly. He loses grip of his film in the first half and then finds it difficult to make up for it in the second. Three by four drags on like a 50 tones crane with its meandering pace. Everyone is running after money and the attempt to comedy is amateurish at best. Nothing really works to write about. As you suffer in silence, you feel sorry for the talented actors like Navdeep, Pankaj and Naveen Chandra who have been reduced to a dark joke. They have same expressions, histrionics and same dialogues as though they are on stage. A little imagination and a small twist in their character might have saved a day. The film is sorry missed opportunity for both the director and makers.

The technical aspects of the film have been planned to give Bum Bholenath a sitcom type of feel and its evident in the film. The camera work by Bharini K Dharan is good. The costume design and production design make Bum Bholenath glossy. The music of the film by Sai Karthik is average. Title track stands out, but unfortunately it belongs to director and not Sai. Choreography deserves a special applause for Neethone track. Editor could have applied his scissors more sharply.

Bum Bholenath had offbeat one line idea behind it but the execution of two hour plus can’t stand up only by it. It needed more umph and few surprising elements. The fault lies in the script and the screenplay. The gags are not funny enough and many situations are randomly crushed in the narrative for comic relief.  On the whole, it’s recommended that you skip Bum Bholenath and wait for March releases.

Survi Review: 1/5