Brochevaarevarura 2019 Movie Review | has Brilliance written all over it

Brochevaarevarura is a fun-filled comedy crime drama, told with great vibrancy. If Telugu cinema was a Crown, that crown has been studded with illuminating Gems this year. Brochevaarervaru Ra is the Gem that accentuates its splendour. Recently, a breeze of freshness has caressed Telugu cinema, Brochevaarervaru Ra imbues this breeze with a scent of originality. Vivek Aathreya is the man who brings this firecracker of a film to us. Here is a newgen filmmaker who draws inspiration from films like Asghar Farhadi’s masterpiece ‘  A Separation ‘ and Imtiaz Ali’s Highway; much like his character Vishal who is an aspiring filmmaker, the wall in his room has posters of A Separation, Highway, Talapathy and several other classics. Vishal finds a producer who is looking to encourage Original content and gives a green signal to his script. The onus of finding the actress Shalini, is on Vishal and he succeeds in approaching her to narrate the script.

Mithra is a dancer and aspires to be like her mother one day, these aspirations are shut by an insensitive father who brings her to him, after his divorced wife is dead. In a beautiful opening scene the director demonstrates the pitiful situation of the youth in our country who tend to let their imagination cross the borders of the societal expectations, in terms of setting goals. We see Mithra’s childlike face through the open car window, in which her father is driving her home. She looks at a hording of a dance class, as her father, without saying a word, turns up the window glass and the camera cuts to his stern face. The beautiful combination of acting, writing and direction in this scene is a microcosmic determination of the film’s brilliance.

Rocky, Rambo and Rahul are Intermediate students who, as per their age, need to be in their graduation. Mithra’s father is the principal of the college these three study in and joins Mithra in the same college. Mithra befriends the R3 batch, as they call themselves. These three boys and Mithra cookup a plan to free her from the shackles of her father. Although their plan succeeds, it later sets off a chain of events that send the film into overdrive. The screenplay of the film is like that of a ripple in calm waters. The ripples just keep getting bigger and the film goes into a frenzy.

The writing by Vivek Aathreya is brilliant, especially in the first half of the film. Characters are introduced and established beautifully with minimal exposition. This film has some of the most special moments of this year. Mithra and Rahul are sitting by a pond, and Rahul curses her father for being unsupportive of her. Mithra’s reaction to this is refreshing. She says ” I can’t because he is my father , I can at least listen to you curse him “. These are moments that transcend the viewer into the world the filmmaker is striving to create. In another Masterstroke, Vivek Aathreya uses montages of Mithra’s dance against a scene where she is, seamingly, breaking free of her father’s oppression. The concept of Form and Content is tenderly understood and handled by Aathreya. This is his way of telling this story, his form to communicate this content. The audience are subconsciously put in the characters’ head when the filmmaker has great understanding of the form of his/her film and Vivek Aathreya certainly does.

In a scene in the second half, the screenplay gets to a point where two characters you are rooting for, come together. In a standard script this would be a scene where the protagonist and the antagonist are pit against each other but here both characters in the scene are the ones you are rooting for and you sit their clueless about whom to root for. The scene is laced with tension as both these characters look for something and anyoutcome here will take the story either way. This masterful piece of writing not only creates conflicts for the characters but also for the viewer and it works like gold, in holding our attention. A writing masterclass that coasts along, fumbles in the second half as the multiple narratives overlap and an end is reached with great convenience. Every event that happens in the film is pure coincidence but the events in the first half never come across as contrivences, some do in the later half. The film reaches a convenient end, with all the narrative threads tied-in neatly. Although contrived, it is fulfilling to see a refreshing piece of cinema.

The excellent ensemble adds to the novelty of the film. Each performance is in sync with the tone of the film and enhances the already well written characters. Nivetha Thomas in her limited screentime towers over all the other exceptional performers. She is so in sync with the character that her body language, node of her head is graceful, as if she were dancing. Nivetha approaches her performance here like a dancer, there is the grace of a dancer in her memorable performance.

Vivek Sagar has become the go-to music director for Indie films in the last few years and he has not disappointed, once. His ability to add flavour to these exciting films is unique. It is safe to say that there is now a Vivek Sagar sound, and boy is it pleasing. Like every other aspect that has contributed to this film, music too adds a rich soundtrack to this eccentric film.

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Brochevaarervarura is about the strangeness of life. It is about purpose, dreams and parenting but most of all it is about having a great time at the cinemas. Brochevaarervarura translates to ‘ Who will save us ? ‘ Vivek Aathreya puts his hand up and not only does he save Telugu cinema but takes its glory a notch higher.