Bromance
Introduction
The Gen-Z…ness of the new Malayalam film Bromance can be attributed to its opening sequence involving the character of a cop stuttering on an alight staircase before slipping down while chasing an individual, only for his antics to be captured and circulated in a viral reel. This remained the essential lingo of the drama on which the film here is mounted on. The plot is essentially wafer-thin and relies more on character dynamics in a partly reel-induced narrative while building on the character use-cases in every scene. The result – it remains a mixed bag with a few gags that don’t always land. Yet, there is enough in the drama to keep you entertained throughout the narrative. If this were an MCU film, the characters of this film could have been Thunderbolts* in a totally different setting. It is funny how both films revolve around ‘finding’ a character through a maze, yet accounting for a goofy dynamics that is prevalent within the group of misfits that is created. Hence, it is hardly a surprise that the film is titled ‘Bromance’, a coined term for friendship that goes beyond brotherhood. The only difference being that this vibe is spread across characters of different gender and age demographics in the film.
Story & Screenplay
Meet Binto (Mathew Thomas), a generic Gen Z who doesn’t really have a purpose in life. He is content with fussing about his life and family yet borrowing money from his brother Shinto (Shyam Mohan), and occasionally getting involved in a brawl-like situation that also threatens to be a scene straight out of Thallumaala (2022). It essentially typifies the youth of today who loved their reels that includes watching and shooting them, as opposed to making better use of their time. But, the drama doesn’t wish to be just a coming-of-age drama for Binto. In fact, the main conflict of the film is introduced almost in a ‘Hangover’ setup, when Binto gets a call about the sudden disappearance of his elder brother from his colleague, Shabeer (Arjun Ashokan in full Romancham mode).
The seriousness of the conflict is often masked by the frivolous nature of the drama featuring Binto often shown to be panicky and losing his $hit while bumping into characters, each of whom form a trail to his missing brother. The humour I must say, is a hit and a miss even when Binto stumbles on a dentist and the supposed ex-girlfriend of his brother, Aishwarya (Mamta Nambiar). The entire drama is stationed on the dynamics between characters almost cutting through a reel-induced narrative, even as new characters continue to be added. One of the hilarious moments of the first hour includes Binto’s tryst with a local hacker Hariharasudhan (Sangeeth Prathap), who wants to present himself as an ultra-pro-max-version of all hackers, when the reality is different. The money exchanging scene in which Hari asks for an advance payment of Rs 15K, only to be handed over a UPI payment of Rs 500 has got to be one of the scenes that had me chuckling. In another scene, you see Hari hacking into the smart watch of Binto’s brother and boasting of a potential “breakthrough”, only for it to be revealed that it was Binto wearing his brother’s watch all along. Hilarious!
Not all humour attempted lands the way it should. Binto’s tryst with a local cop Tony (Binu Pappu in a different cop role from Thudarum, and with his trademark moustache this time around) that circles back to the start of the film, is a plot-point that felt over-stretched and unfunny simply because it lingered on for a very long time. The time-gap between the conflict within a conflict and the subsequent resolution felt more like a distraction because the payoff wasn’t immensely satisfying. On the flip side, the sequence that worked was Binto’s tryst with a local mafia that went by the name Courier Babu (Kalabhavan Shajohn). The character itself was a catharsis of his perception – a gangster who was hardly threatening, immensely affable and supremely funny. Even the prowess of Hari in yet another comedic scene ‘enters the chat’ wherein he literally parks his bike in the middle of the road only to force himself in a car, that sees the group travel to Coorg after an exposition. The events are decently hilarious, and enough to put a smile on your face.
The second hour majorly exuded a vibe of Priyadarshan comedies that we have all grown up in. And that trait of bringing all characters under one-roof is a signature move in quite a few comedy films of his filmography. Likewise, the humour definitely benefits from the shift in setting that sees the inclusion of another character Ashish (Bharath Bopanna), an Arjun Reddy-esque character who imposes himself on the lone female of the group Aishwarya (how ironic that even his sister’s name is Aishwarya, and cough….a meta commentary involving the antics of a major star with another ‘Aishwarya’?). Instantly, you are aware that this character will be the nemesis for the group, while most time is spent in gathering clues that would point the group towards Shinto. I must say that at one point, the focus did deviate from the principal plot while having its focus on a cat and mouse game between Ashish and the members of the group. The events are chaotic but still hoodwinked from the main plot.
I was a little on the fence in the manner in which Shinto was finally discovered but the final act more than made up for it. Although it didn’t exactly go wild with its sense of humour, often being held back in places while not letting the slap-stick comedy pour through completely, it definitely contributed to moments of laughter, including a followup of the hilarious one-sided love angle of Shabeer. Here I must also add that the sequence was again a tad stretched, but it did account for an enjoyable experience. And that summed up the screenplay that suffered from a few lags and featured a mixed bag of comedy but still had enough meat for me to chuckle throughout its duration.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are directly proportional to the tone of the film. Hence, the infusion of Gen-Z words coupled with a different sense of humour is what you will find here. But objectively, not all lines land the way they should in terms of the humour. At times, the lines try too hard to be funny wherein you see an effort to make the joke land. Alternately, most of the humour erupts from situations that the characters find themselves in, that soon transitions into slap-stick comedy. The music and BGM for me was a miss here, and a little out of sync with the unabashed mood of the drama. The BGM particularly felt forgettable while not exactly aiding the drama as it ought to have. The cinematography comprises of frames that are good and contribute to the comedy, although I wonder if the twin-settings could have also resulted in a cross-cultural comedy by imitating individual characters? The editing is good although it didn’t account for a few lags along the way. An edit of about 15 minutes would have ensured that the runtime of the film was under 2 hours, something that would have made for an even crisper watch. Director Arun D Jose has a unique style of keeping the plots of his films wafer-thin, something that we have previously witnessed in Jo and Jo (2022) and 18+ (2023). His style includes extracting humour from the character dynamics and creating conflicts within conflicts enveloped in a larger skeletal framework of the simplistic drama. And here, the only (mild) issue remained that the brand of humour attempted wasn’t always consistent. Despite that, he still does a fairly good job in contributing to the fun factor of the film that ultimately makes for a passable outcome. The direction is pretty decent here.
Performances
The performances are pretty good by the members of the cast. Shyam Mohan as Shinto shines in yet another character of a jilted lover after Premalu (oddly, it felt like a natural succession of that film😂) wherein he does a good job despite a limited screen time. Bharath Bopanna as Ashish is a character designed to be a parody on Arjun Reddy, while also being the focal point of over-the-top action sequences that we primarily witness in the Telugu Film Industry. And he does a solid job here. Sangeeth Prathap is a rare actor who is blessed with a sense of comic timing, while having an ability to find comedy at the most unexpected situations. And as Hari, he was hilarious to the core. Binu Pappu as Tony and Kalabhavan Shajohn as Courier Babu (in a hilarious Don Lee avatar😂) are also ably competent and sporadically tickle your funny bone through their sincere and earnest acts. Mahima Nambiar as Aishwarya has a solid screen presence and manages to hold her own amidst the ‘boys’ (alexa insert – The Boys theme!). She remains poised and graceful even in the madness while putting forth a commendable act. Arjun Ashokan as Shabeer starts off on a serious note but later completely transforms into a character who is clear having a blast (although resembling his character from Romancham). Mathew Thomas as Binto does a good job at tickling your funny bone barring a couple of instances wherein he does go overboard in scenes wherein he gets ‘hyper’. But largely, the performance still worked while contributing to the fun moments in the drama.
Conclusion
Boasting of good performances, Bromance is a decently chaotic comedy that does feature some inconsistent levels of humour but largely makes for a fun-filled enjoyable watch. Nothing more, nothing less! Available on SonyLiv.
