Film: “Bolo Raam”; Cast: Rishi Bhutani, Padmini Kolhapure, Om Puri, Disha Pandey, Rajpal Yadav, Govind Namdeo and Naseeruddin Shah; Director: Rakesh Chaturvedi; Rating: **
“Bolo Raam” can be compared to thriller “Aamir”, which starred Rajeev Khandelwal. With newcomer Rishi Bhutani teaming up with director Rakesh Chaturvedi, the USP of the film lies in it’s novel plot.
Also, the ensemble supporting cast – Padmini Kolhapure, Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah – could be any filmmaker’s dream.
But an unconventional film like this should have been pitched well through adequate marketing and promotion. This is where “Bolo Raam” suffers because even though it has an interesting plot, it doesn’t quite reach out to audiences.
The minimal buzz and a poor release notwithstanding, “Bolo Raam” doesn’t carry enough punch to warrant a strong word-of-mouth.
The plotline, which is based on Tamil film “Raam” (2005) that starred Jeeva as the protagonist, is actually quite novel. There haven’t been many films made in the past where a youngster (Rishi) is shown to be the prime suspect after his mother’s (Padmini Kolhapure) killing. He goes silent and the world around him wants him to speak up, hence the title “Bolo Raam”.
Given the fact that he was a recluse to begin with, had a troubled past, loved his mother the most, was disturbed by all the injustice around him and was fist-happy, Raam is a tough nut to crack.
“Bolo Raam” has a slightly offbeat appeal to it but it does turn filmy towards the latter part.
Yes, there are shocking moments, especially during the entire build-up phase.
The introduction of characters played by Om Puri, Govind Namdeo and Naseeruddin Shah keep the wheels turning.
Milestone moments in the movie aren’t bad as well, as evidenced in the opening sequence as well as the interval point. However, it’s the culmination that makes you believe that “Bolo Raam” could well have been a suspense thriller for television viewing.
With the kind of budget that “Bolo Raam” has been made, it did stand a good chance of at least a decent recovery if it could have waited a little longer. A release at a time when “3 Idiots” is going super strong and there are a line of biggies for the next two months isn’t really a good decision.
rounak