Bommalattam

About the film

Bommalattam is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language thriller film written and directed by Bharathiraaja. The film stars Arjun Sarja and Nana Patekar, with Rukmini Vijayakumar, Kajal Aggarwal, Niyamat Khan, Vatsal Sheth, Ranjitha and Manivannan in supporting roles. Himesh Reshammiya composed the music and cinematography was done by B. Kannan. It was simultaneously shot in Hindi, with Mushtaq Khan in place of Manivannan; however, the Tamil version was mostly dubbed from Hindi. Bommalattam was released it on 12 December 2008, while the Hindi version, originally titled Cinema, was retitled Final Cut of Director and had a limited release on 21 October 2016. While Bommalattam was a success, Final Cut of Director failed financially.

Plot

Film director Rana is filming a scene with the female lead of his upcoming film, Cinema. Rana is unhappy with the actor's behaviour, and he decides to find another female lead. He finally finds Trishna suitable but never discloses her identity to the media, and the film's wallpapers do not show the names of the male and female leads. The film is eventually completed, and Rana must attend a press meeting about his film's release, but he does not attend the meeting and is shown to have had an illegal relationship with Trishna. At this instant, the film's producer calls Rana, and the media discovers his location and who he is with. Press reporters gather at the hotel where Rana is staying; he escapes from them and gets into a car. The press chase him, and Rana kills Trishna by creating an accident-like situation.

SP Vivek Varma, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer, takes charge of this murder case along with two previous murder cases in which Rana is also a suspect. Rana is arrested and taken into CBI custody, and Vivek starts his interrogation. Meanwhile, a poet named Anitha, who is a superfan of Rana, is revealed to be Vivek's lover and worked as an assistant to Rana during his filmmaking. During the interrogation, Rana reveals how he met Trishna and their relationship.

Trishna was a dancer who performed in temples and at small-time shows across Andhra Pradesh. Rana hires Trishna as his muse, and they become lovers. When a hairdresser is left homeless, Rana offers her a place in his room; another unit member sees this and informs Rana's wife. The next morning, as Rana is shooting with Trishna, his wife arrives, beats up the hairdresser, and accuses Rana of being a womaniser. Rana continues filming, appearing to be unperturbed by the incident but cries while instructing his actors. His assistant notices this; she and Rana are also shown to be lovers, and she comforts Rana. At the village in which they are filming, the village chief is notorious and constantly lusts over Trishna. Rana states he will kill the chief if he causes more inconvenience. The next day, the chief is murdered. Vivek recalls this and states Rana committed this murder, but Rana neither agrees with nor denies this statement.

Production

The film was launched in Malaysia in 2006 with the title Cinema for the Hindi version and Bommalattam for the Tamil version. Bharathiraja decided to make the film in Hindi after casting Nana Patekar. Arjun Sarja was cast as a police officer. Rukmini Vijayakumar was cast in an important role. Cinema was based on a true incident that took place in Hampi. Bharathiraja recalled that he and Patekar often had disagreements during filming, but after seeing the finished product, Patekar appreciated Bharathiraja. Cinema and Bommalattam were originally supposed to mark the lead and Tamil debut of Kajal Aggarwal, respectively. However, the delay of the film meant that Lakshmi Kalyanam (2007) and Pazhani (2008) were released first.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Himesh Reshammiya. Reviewing Bommalatam's music, Saraswathy Srinivas of Rediff.com rated it 2.5/5 and wrote, "To conclude, Reshammiya's maiden attempt at Tamil music tries to conjure a youthful fare by employing trendy beats and contemporary style but hardly rises to exemplary heights".

Lyrics by Snehan, Thenmozhi Das and Viveka.

Release

Bommalattam remained unreleased until Nag Ravi of Insight Media intervened and released it on 12 December 2008. The Hindi version was renamed Final Cut of Director and was released on 21 October 2016 after a ten-year delay. While Bommalattam was successful, Final Cut of Director went largely unnoticed and failed at the box office.

Critical reception

Ayyappa Prasad of Nowrunning wrote, "Like aged and mellowed spirits, director Bharati Raja has matured and levitated towards one of his first loves—a whodunit". Sify wrote, "hats off to Bharathiraja for creating a taut thriller which is a masterpiece of moods, anxieties and dread. Quite simply, unmissable." Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com wrote, "Bharathiraja's screenplay lacks punch. He seems to have been confused about whether to give importance to the characters themselves, or the thriller portion." Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "The pluses of Bommalattam place Bharatiraaja on a pedestal. The minuses play spoilsport." She added, "It's obvious that many of the scenes have been filmed in Hindi alone—flawed lip sync makes a mockery of some of the serious scenes".

Key details