- Date of Release: 25 December 2024
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller
- Language: Malayalam
- Watch On: Disney Plus Hotstar
Barroz
Introduction
In an early scene in the Malayalam film Barroz, you are introduced to Barroz (Mohanlal), a ghostly spirit who is shown to be protecting the treasures of his master while patiently waiting for the rightful heir to arrive. To give him company is a VFX-driven Voodoo who guides him about his fate and legacy, before a lavishly mounted combat sequence featuring a bunch of intruders begins. While witnessing that sequence, I was instantly distracted by the lack of depth onscreen. It gave me an impression that the intention of the makers was to design a 3D experience, while failing to take into account the sequence in itself that would engage you emotionally, or at the very least is technically brilliant. The sequence though turned out to be so generic and tonally off (couldn’t quite place my finger on whether the mood was playful or serious), that it kind of sealed the fate of the film for me within the first 20 minutes. And I was hoping against hope that some miracle wpuld eventually rescue the film, something that remained non-existential.
Story & Screenplay
Barroz is a kids film typically aimed at an age demographic of under 13 years, therefore it hardly comes as a surprise that the protagonist of the film is a 13 year old foreigner named Isa (Maya Rao West) who makes her way to Goa accompanying her dad who is at the center of capitalism in the state. Isa is a rebellious little girl being suspended in school for her mischief, even as you can join the dots early in the film to deduce that she is the rightful heir of the treasure that is guarded by Barroz for over 400 years. But almost immediately, you feel the lack of characterization with respect to her character that is so unlike anything that you would witness in a Malayalam film. For me, the core of the film remained the bond between Barroz and Isabelle (Isa in the current timeline) that would eventually account for a deluge of emotions even as you get to know about the occultist curse imposed on Barroz, and how that would impact the bond in a tale of bonding. Unfortunately, I did not feel a thing for any of the characters even as the emphasis remained on the glitz and glam of the visuals which honestly were stunning.
The rebellious nature of Isa never quite ties up to the main plot and is barely justified by her backstory of Isa losing her mother at an early age. In the simplest manner possible, the film is staged as a kids play and offers a simplistic take on reincarnation (in a way), but these concepts are never really highlighted throughout the course of the film. The film though does have a silver lining with respect to the little backstory of Barroz told in a non-linear fashion, while often oscillating between the timelines of the past and present. I was briefly engaged in this phase even as I was acquainted to the loyalist who would do anything for his master while sharing a warm bond with Isabelle, his master’s daughter. And even though the bond by itself felt scratchy and played out as a homage through a song, it still was mildly inviting thereby summing up the best phase of the film.
At the concept level, there is no denying that the story holds a unique space in the fantasy genre. But the film ideally needed an emotional depth and a character depth – both of which would have elevated the drama (remember Malaikotai Vaaliban, yes my unpopular opinion). The ideas were all there in paper but it didn’t really convert onscreen in a drama that was all vanilla. In a crucial scene for Isa, there is a moment wherein her rebellious streak gives way to her singing, all in order to give her a character arc and lead to a journey of realisation with respect to her past. This was a fleeting moment wherein the makers chose not to build on it, while quickly moving onto another scene that was seemingly disconnected (emotionally speaking), from the one featuring Isa. This is where the inexperience of Mohanlal the filmmaker was evident (more on him later).
The politics of the land often plays out in the background but because this is a kids film, the writing doesn’t wish to offer any resolution. The drama also lacks a sole antagonist face that would ideally lurk as a danger for Barroz. What this means is that the stake in the drama is never really pushed with respect to the obstacles that it has to offer – even though you witness a magician casting her spell while never really coming face to face with Barroz. The convoluted nature of the writing can be attributed with the fact that it tries to touch upon a lot of things – there is a time period within which Barroz must grant the key to Isa while the magician recasts a version of the emperor from the past to counter him, even while Barroz coaxes Isa to mend her relations with her father who in turn is the face of capitalism in the state. Phew, and none of them really come together in a final act that was borderline laughable with the manner in which it was executed. And once again, the lack of an emotional depth came back to haunt the writing at the end wherein you didn’t feel an iota of emotions in play, even though things were designed for an emotional farewell. The screenplay had everything written on paper but the same was failed to be executed onscreen.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are slightly off-tune as far as the rhythm of the lines is concerned, and as a result, the emotions don’t really land in almost every scene. What that does is reduce the drama to a bit of a slog wherein you patiently sit through it while wanting it to end. The music is wonderfully here and uses some beautiful notes to accentuate the emotions that are otherwise non-existent elsewhere in the drama. The BGM tries to raise the grandeur of the drama and honestly, it definitely does to a point before being nullified by the execution. The cinematography comprises of frames that are indeed breathtaking and coupled with the production design, they do elevate the drama from a technical standpoint. One technical flaw remained the delayed motion of the characters almost to indicate a VFX-induced reaction that did leave a sour aftertaste. This is where a maker like Rajamouli would have added precision to the character movements to eradicate this flaw. The editing is a little loose here, not entirely taking into account the lags in the screenplay even as some of the scenes carried on for an eternity (and they really needed to be trimmed). I was always skeptical of Mohanlal heading this project in his directorial debut and while he does have the vision, his skills remain rough around the edges in terms of the world-building and characterization. In a scene, you see him fighting VFX driven Steel Men but his inexperience lay in the fact that while he was pumping a blow to one of them, the other one was standing behind him waiting for him to finish his action. That VFX induced creature should never have been in the frame, something that reduces the impact of the scene. One of the biggest failures for me remained the lack of emotional depth that the drama was stricken by, wherein Mohanlal did not quite create enough moments to allow me to invest in any of the characters. The direction did miss the mark for me.
Performances
The performances remain cardboard for me apart from a couple of standouts. Guru Somasundaram as SP Subramanyam is simply wasted here wherein he hardly has anything to do. Cesar Lorente Raton as Mendonza is hardly intimidating and fails to impress. One of the few artists that actually shows up is Kallirroi Tziafeta who does shine in a scene of angst while leaving a mark with her character. Joshua Okesalako as Muwesi lacks the spark or the screen presence for a major antagonist in the film, and she is quite cliched with her expressions. Ignacio Mateos as Da Gama is simply a cardboard cutout character who never really engages you with his performance. Maya Rao West as Isa/Isabelle just doesn’t hold you at all with her performance. In a scene wherein she witnesses Barroz in his ‘dying’ bed, she needed to convey a lot more emotions through her expressions, but her dead-pan expressions simply don’t convey an iota of the same. Mohanlal the actor does step up as Barroz delivering a sincere and an endearing act. But there is only so much he could do given that Mohanlal the filmmaker did not standup. It was a good performance though but not something that would be recalled in times to come.
Conclusion
Barroz is a unique fantasy kids film on paper that boasts of solid frames and VFX but lacks the emotional depth that was required to engage with the viewers, thereby ending up perhaps as the weakest Malayalam film of 2024. Available on Hotstar.
