Bhooloham

Bhooloham is set in north Madras and revolves around the boxing community in the place. There are two warring boxing groups in the locality and Deepak Shah, a media moghul, hits upon the idea of holding a boxing championship by exploiting their rivalry. With his smooth operator ways, he has no difficulty in getting Bhooloham, a boxer seeking to avenge the loss of his late father in the ring, fight against Arumugham, whose father had defeated the former's father in the tournament. The hot-headed Bhooloham puts Arumugham in a critical condition by knocking him out in their match, but has a moment of epiphany and decides to hang up his gloves for good. But Deepak, who is counting on the tournament to bring untold riches to the channel, will not let him withdraw that easily. He stages a match between Bhooloham and the national champion Guru Dayal by deceit and forces Bhooloham to take on Steven George, a notorious international champion, in the final match. Can the hot-headed Bhooloham see through his game plan?

Bhooloham is written by director SP Jhananthan and though the director's fingerprints are evident in most places, it is in the climax that they are very apparent. It is structured as a sports film, but it is actually a rant against sensationalism in the TV media, capitalism, and even an unintended plug for the Indian government's Make in India initiative. As he did in his own film, Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai, earlier this year, Jhananthan uses this plot to spell out discussion points for the society. Director Kalyanakrishnan's filmmaking style is loud but it suits the tone of the writing and given that the characters, too, are written as over-the-top individuals, the film doesn't grate once we have settled in after the first few minutes. The milieu of the film feels authentic and that is the director's biggest triumph. He nicely captures the sub-culture of boxing that is popular among the people of north Madras and we get to see their beliefs and their va...