Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Aparna Balamurali, Roshan Mathew, Vineeth, Joy Mathew, Anu Mohan, Achyuth Kumar, Nandhu
Director: pawan kumar
Language: Malayalam
A steadfast servant of the capitalist corporation, Avinash feels pangs of conscience when he learns of the extent of the devastation caused by his company’s products. Dhoomam (Smoke) is an account of how he came to that conclusion, his attempt to course correct himself, and the penalty he is asked to pay for his crimes. There’s no logical explanation why he, a head of marketing for a cigarette-manufacturing corporation, is singled out for punishment and not the owners, nor is his sudden change of heart convincing, but that’s the least of it. DhoomamThe problems of
A scene in which Avinash (Fahadh Faasil) pitches an idea to the organization’s board of directors is emblematic of this film’s most fundamental flaw. As he presents his plan to the bosses, he is met with a barrage of interruptions. His biggest supporter on the board, CEO Sid (Roshan Mathew), has to step in on his defense and ask him to get down to business. Because Avinash was trying to look smart, but what he actually did was go round and round in circles. That last sentence pretty much sums it up Dhoomam Also: In an attempt to sound smart and cool and build suspense, the script goes round and round in circles.
Dhoomam is a suspense thriller in which Avinash is forced to free himself and his wife Diya (Aparna Balamurali) from a horrible situation. As the couple work to unravel the mystery of how to get out of this predicament, Diya discovers the terrible truth about her husband, and he must face the damage he has intentionally inflicted on the public. The opening passage raises curiosity as to who and what is behind Avinash and Diya’s troubles, but the weakness of the writing is apparent from the start.
Show this. The first time they go out together, Avinash and Diya attend an office party. In doing so, Avinash informs her that Sid had urged him to bring his girlfriend and, upon learning that he had no special woman in his life, he told her that there is nothing money can’t buy. . At this, Diya asks Sid if she thinks he bought it. Her response is: “No, I beat you.” This is supposed to be a clever joke, but… how do I put it? … oh yes … yikes!
Or try this. The board of directors is shown deliberating on the legal warnings against cigarette smoking that are placed on the screen in Indian films as per long standing government directives. The lines spoken by these men suggest that they have not necessarily all been closely following developments on this front and have not discussed the warnings over time, as the upper management of a real-life cigarette manufacturer would have.
The construction of that scene is so amateurish it’s hard to believe. Dhoomam is written and directed by acclaimed Kannada director Pawan Kumar, who brought us the sensational 2013 independent film Lucy and 2016 Your turn. The latter spawned a million remakes including Carefulin Malayalam directed by VK Prakash, starring Sandhya Raju, Vijay Babu and Jomol.
LucyThe style of ‘snazziness came naturally to the director, Dhoomam appears as a candidate. In a sense, this new film is an extension of Your turnThe concern with responsibility for human actions, whether calculated, haphazard, or simply careless, including consequences that we do not foresee or are unaware of. It is obviously admirable that Kumar, the Malayalam film industry and the producers of Dhoomam – Kannada film giant Hombale Films, the banner behind the blockbuster KGF franchise and Kantara – were willing to take on the country’s powerful cigarette giants and their political allies, unequivocally criticize and shame them. Dhoomam he does not move diplomatically around his subject, which makes it necessary to emphasize that this is courage that the Hindi film industry would not display today.
DhoomamHowever, ‘s courage and powerful credentials, including the talented and respected cast she has garnered, are not matched by the writing. The twists have potential, but the dialogue is clunky or downright boring, and the narrative stretches. Not enough attention is paid to details in the characterization of some important characters in the plot, including the antagonist, the policeman investigating the case, and even Diya. Her existence within the story, for example, stems entirely from her relationship with Avinash: she has no identity independent of him, and she exists solely as a vehicle to deliver a lesson to him.
This flaw further exacerbates another: that Diya is the only clearly identifiable woman with any semblance of history in the script. The rest are all men. All of them.
Women can be relegated to the background in Dhoomam, but the subconscious gender bias of the script is not. Ultimately, this film is about the long-term lethality of nicotine, the strategies employed by industrialists to take advantage of basic human weaknesses to drive healthy people into a spiral of addiction from which escape is unlikely. Through this microimage, Dhoomam it is intended to represent a macro view of the lack of scruples inherent in capitalism. This is a noble goal. However, Kumar addresses the dangers of smoking without acknowledging the different societal attitudes towards female vs. male smokers. Indian society in general treats cigarettes as a health consideration for men, but tends to make moral judgments about women who smoke. This mindset manifests itself in the way that conservatives tend to take more notice of female smokers than male smokers. Dhoomam it is an involuntary reflection of this reality, of eyes that focus on what shocks them the most, either consciously or unconsciously, and thus assume that the part of the painting on which they are focused is the whole painting. Dhoomam it may pretend to be concerned with humanity in general, but it reveals its bias with gender-focused bias in its images of humans most vulnerable to insidious advertising and cigarette addiction. Both are exemplified in this film by women. More specifically, women and maternity.
Fahadh Faasil and Aparna Balamurali deliver as strong performances as possible against a writing devoid of nuance, vague about its politics, and confused in several places. DhoomamThe cast of has a formidable track record, but the only one who carves a somewhat memorable character out of flawed writing is Roshan Mathew. The young actor’s endearing turn as musician Sasikumar in the recent neelavelicham it was a test of what you can deliver when blessed with top-of-the-line writing. Sid proves that he, too, is capable of overcoming a poor script. He knows exactly what measure of swag and innate charm to put into a smug ball of slime to make Avinash’s employer evil but hard to hate.
Although this Malayalam film is set in Karnataka, the intersection of the cultures of two states produces nothing in particular, and the Karnataka countryside is not explored as beautifully as nature is usually captured in Malayalam cinema. Dhoomam it features a handful of stunning shots of verdant lands and unique rock formations, but the cinematography lacks a signature here.
DhoomamThe message of is crucial and the plot contains some promising twists, but the film takes too long to get there. The script lacks depth, zest, and soul, resulting in a narrative that has limited emotional impact and lacks the urgency one would expect from the life-and-death situation at its center.
Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)
Dhoomam is in theaters
Anna MM Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specializes in the intersection of cinema with feminism and other sociopolitical concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial
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