Brahmachari

Brahmachari is a poorly dubbed flick, narrated at a pace that makes the serials in ETV and Gemini look like they were made by George Lucas. However, Hasan and the rest always manage to tilt the balance towards the screen and away from thoughts of what the resale value of your ticket would be, thanks to some good situational comedy all through. Now if only they'd remembered that even God works according to a script.

Sambandham (Kamal Hasan) is a 30-something bachelor whose greatest aim in life is to become a 40-something bachelor before finally retiring as a 50-something bachelor. Since even 30-something bachelors need to eat, he works as a stuntman in the movies. Offscreen, he's a devotee of Lord Hanuman, and propogates the virtues of prayer, universal brotherhood and misogyny.

Janaki (Simran) is a doc and a self-appointed spinster who's choc-a-bloc with enthusiasm for male-bashing. Their paths cross on several occasions, thanks to their efforts to disunite Anand (Abbas) and Malathi (Sneha), their respective pals who've married against their advice. If you're now going to tell us that you know this doggie-style hatred is going to develop into gleaming love, sure, but we betcher you don't know how.

Well, what happens is that Sambandham, in a daring rescue operation, gets gored by his own bull that's just about to make its way through Janaki. He thought he was rescuing his bull, but Janaki thinks otherwise, and is all sympathy. He's rushed to a hospital and she operates upon him, but while sewing him up, neglects to take her watch out of his intestines.

She discovers shortly that she's poorer by one watch and that Sambandham's X-ray is richer by one unscheduled object, and puts two and two together. Now she needs to open him up again before her misdeed is discovered, and when a couple of less reel-hogging approaches to trap him fail, decides that love is the only potion that can intoxicate him into the operation theater. But she has to do it fast, since… er… the clock is ticking. Not only ticking, but chiming three times a day as well.

The second half is equally lazy, and is unconvincing in addition. The crux of the tale lay in how the two would get together, and that's been dealt with in a surprisingly immature way for a Kamal Hasan film. Okay, so it's a comedy, but then did Michael Madana Kama Raju make you feel like it was made with special consideration for poor intellectually challenged you?

Kamal Hasan is, of course, awesome. This man can play the role of a diesel engine and bring it to life. The emotional scenes in the second half make you wonder why you should pay the same money to watch all those no-talent gorks of Tollywood who've come up in the past few years as to watch this man. Simran matches up to her co-star, no mean feat. All performances are good, but you have to live with some sick quality dubbing.

The music is tolerable, and so's the film in general. And yes, if you can, watch it at Sri Sai Raja (the old Raja Deluxe at Musheerabad) - this is the next theater in town sporting a completely swanky look, a la Manju and Shanti.