| Director:
Lingusamy |
 |
|
Cast: Vikram, Prakashraj,Trisha, Thalaivasal
Vijay,Raghuvaran, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kalatpadai Jai, Tanusha |
 'Those
who live by the sword, die by the sword', goes the caption at
the end of 'Bheema'. It is nothing new; for, we have seen both
the caption, and the saga of the gangster and his favourite
henchman, in innumerable films earlier. It's again a sense of
déjà vu for a viewer here.
The film does begin promisingly, and manages to keep viewer's
attention engaged for the earlier part. However, as the
narration proceeds, the scenes turn repetitive, and the script
takes a downslide from which it never recovers. Chinna is a
thug, whose men are on a killing spree. But who his victims are,
and what really is their crime, is a confused scenario. With
Chinna's rival being Periyavar (Raghuvaran), a wobbly aging
gangster who could barely speak coherently, there is not much of
an intimidating opposition for Chinna. It's a further lost cause
for Periyavar, with the entry of the gutsy, one-man-army Shekhar
into Chinna's fold. Shekhar had admired Chinna's ways and
attitude since childhood and had joined his gang. The police
enter the picture in order to end the gang war. But with no
proper strategy, it's confusion confounded. Some of the fights
are well choreographed, while others are those gravity and
bullet- defying ones.
Weaved into this is the love
story between Shekar and Shalini (Trisha), and of Chinna's
secret love (Lakshmi Gopalasami). It's an ornamental role for
Trisha, though there is a futile attempt to thrust her character
towards the climax. Songs and dance numbers pop up at
inopportune moments causing a lag. . The finale is a weakly
etched one, which neither touches a chord, nor evokes any
sympathy.
 Prakashraj
plays Chinna with flair and panache. Thalaivasal Vjay makes his
mark as his loyal man. Nevertheless, the saving grace of the
film is Vikram. Looking handsome, using his body language to
good effect, Vikram plays Shekhar with total involvement and
sincerity. The actor is consistently good, even when the script
lets him down.
Lingusamy had made well
packaged, engrossing, action-packed entertainers like 'Run' and
'Sandakozhi'. 'Bheema' seems to be the weakest of his scripts.
It's a film strictly for Vikram's fans.
Malini Mannath
|
