The film Bolo Raam is a remake of Tamil film ‘Ram’ which has an interesting plot with an engaging screenplay. Actors of high calibre like Naseruddin Shah, Om Puri and Padmini Kolhapure come together unfortunately for this lack luster thriller at the end of the year.
A suspense tale, the film Bolo Raam begins with Raam (Rishi Bhutani) who is locked up in jail on charges of killing his own mother Archana (Padmini Kolhapure). Raam falls into a state of shock and is unable to come out of it. He has this brief psychotic disorder, after his mother’s death and becomes silent, refusing to talk or react in any manner.
The investigating officer, Indrajeet Singh Rathi (Om Puri) is puzzled and despite several attempts, he is unable to make Raam speak. So he consults a psychiatrist, Dr. Negi (Naseeruddin Shah), to determine the cause of Raam’s state of mind and the reason for his silence.
The officer also interrogates various personalities for the case and explores every possible motive that the boy might have for murdering his own mom.
Rath summons Raam’s neighbours, Sub-Inspector Sajid Khan (Govind Namdev) and his daughter Juhi (Disha Pandey) and son Sameer (Krishan Khatra) for interrogation.
The investigation leads to several joints and what happens from there forms the rest of the story.
The story of Bolo Raam goes back and forth, several new characters are introduced, but the narrative stays faithful to the main plot. The best is reserved for the second half. Layer after layer is peeled with expertise. The viewer is keen to know the identity of the killer and that’s when the film fumbles and tumbles.
Bolo Raam takes off from its opening titles with a nice pace of suspense and then the story goes back and forth and several characters are introduced, while not deviating from the main plot. It is the second half which gets more interesting.
The characters are half baked. Rishi Bhutani, as a beginner and who plays Ram, comes up with a good performance. He appears in his six-pack, but needs to improve on emotions, specially in such a complex role. The girl who is in love with him is played by the spunky Disha Pandey who is fine. Naseeruddin Shah, Govind Namdeo, Om Puri, and Padmini Kolhapure, are striking in their roles, except for them, this film would have fallen flat.
Debutante director Rakesh Chaturvedi ‘Om’ makes a notable debut with this murder mystery which has a religious angle. It was apt for the producers not to hype this film, and then what unfolds on screen is just surprising.
Bolo Raam is a film for the serious audience and nothing in it for the masses.
CAST of Bolo Raam:
Laxminarayan1 – Tusshar Kapoor
Laxminarayan2 – Sunil Shetty
Laxminarayan3 – Paresh Rawal
Chandu – Upen Patel
Jiya – Esha Deol
Laila – Sameera Reddy
Chandni – Tanisha Mukherjee
Inspector Mayawati – Neetu Chandra
Murli – Murli Sharma
Papa the don – Mukesh Tiwari
Alberts – Vrajesh Hirjee
Pintos – Manoj Pahwa
Ashwin Mushran
Sharat Saxena
Sanjay Mishra
Atul Mathur
Credits & Crew of Bolo Raam:
Banner – Shree Keshav Films
Producer: Goldy Bhutani
Director – Rakesh Chaturvedi
Singers – Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Monali, Soham Chakrabarthy
Lyricist – Ajay Jhingran
Music Director – Sachin Gupta
Background Music – Sanjoy Chowdhary
Cinematography – Anil Xavier
Choreography – Longines Fernandes
Action – Hanif Sheikh
Art – K V Arts
Editor – Aseem Sinha
Sound – Alok De
Bolo Raam, movie review