Manoj Bharati’s
‘Branthimaan’ is a thriller that starts interestingly but succumbs to a pile of
cliches once it reaches its climax. The writing is pretty solid and set in the
backdrop of the competitive world of the Corporate Media & Malayalam Film
Industry. The writer deserves special applause for getting the background and nuances
right.
Rishi, an
intelligent journalist with big ambitions in Cinema, is the protagonist. He has
his support system in Ragunadhan ( a veteran director with a couple of hits
under his credit, but who is slowly fading after being labeled as ‘old school’),
Satheesh (his mentor), and his daughter Shivani. Though Rishi is a highly successful
journalist working in the prestigious ‘Channel Three,’ some incidents in his
workplace force him to quit his job and turn to full-time screenwriting. Meanwhile,
an old ‘news piece’ that he had worked on a few years back (involving a girl
named Jeena who was allegedly brutally raped by her father, Samuel) comes back
to haunt him. Mounted as a mystery thriller, ‘Branthimaan attempts to be a page-turner
with two parallel tracks (Rishi’s professional life & personal ambitions) running
in tandem.
As mentioned
earlier, the writing is racy, manages to build up intrigue, and lacks significant
hiccups for almost half of the book. But by the time it enters the core
suspense, the tension is lost, and the reader gets a sense of Deja Vu and slowly
starts losing interest in the proceedings. The convenient feel, good tail-end
portions are not making the proceedings any better!
Coming to the
positives, the author has got his setting right with the world of Malayalam
Cinema & the behind the scene happenings in the design of a film project being
depicted in a rather exciting way. There aren’t too many characters, and the
story proceeds without losing focus on the protagonist’s life and ambitions. The
language is simple and straightforward & never resorts to literary pretensions,
which is okay for this kind of Novel. The book is also edited well and has
tremendously helped make the narrative racy (for the most part). Branthimaan highlights
how substandard content is being pushed through satellite channels, provided
the makers have the right connections.
On the downside, the racy nature of the
narrative is lost after the big reveal about Jeena is made (which was done way
too early, in my opinion). The predictable and emotionally manipulative nature
of the Raghunathan episode also bogs it down further. By the time the convenient
ending is made, the feeling left behind is of having watched a 90 s thriller
well past its expiry date! The emotionally manipulative climax (the Ragunadhan
track) reminded me of a couple of yesteryear Malayalam films and was highly
predictable. Likewise, the ‘Samuel’ track also comes out as jaded as it has
already been tried in films like ‘Anchaam Paathira,’ Naaradan’ & ‘Lucifer.’
There are a couple of female characters in the narrative, and Durga is
undoubtedly the strongest ( and ironically the one who is the most poorly
written one) of them all. The sufferings and the humiliations she had to endure
are undoubtedly heartbreaking. Though she retributes it all towards the end (albeit
filmi), one gets the feeling that the character could have been etched out even
better. Shivani, Rishi’s love interest, also gets a raw deal.
Overall, ‘Branthimaan’
is a thriller that starts with a bang and fizzles out when it reaches its
climax. However, even in its present form, it’s still okay, one time read, at
best!
Branthiman
DeeCee Upmarket Fiction
280 INR
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