Vaikom Muhammad Basheer is an emotion beyond expression for a Malayali. In the treasure trove of stories by this literary genius, one stands out – Neelavelicham.
Though only 12 pages long, it inspired the 1964 classic Bhargavi Nilayam – Malayalam cinema’s first horror-romantic-investigative thriller. It tells the tale of the playful but lonely novelist who rents a house in a village, ignorant of the fact that it is haunted. But he strikes up a friendship with the beautiful female ghost and sets out to find why and how she died, stumbling upon a tragic love story on the way. In fact, it was Basheer himself who wrote the screenplay for the film, which had legends like Prem Nazir playing the musician Sasikumar, Madhu the novelist, and Vijaya Nirmala as Bhargavi.
Almost six decades later, director Aashiq Abu has remade the Basheer-A. Vincent classic under the original title, with Tovino Thomas as the novelist, Roshan Matthew as Sasikumar and Rima Kallingal as Bhargavi. The name itself is a pointer to the era that has passed between the making of these two films. In the 1964 black-and-white classic, there was no way for Vincent to show the neela velicham (blue light) in the scene that is a bookmark in the film.
In 2023, Abu can and Abu does. The neela velicham and more. When the original story is as popular as this one, and so is the original film, there is only so much room to manoeuvre for a filmmaker, in a remake. Unless he deviates from the original. Abu doesn’t do that. Should he have done that, to bring in some novelty?
Neelavelicham is visually stunning, with some frames looking straight out of a Windows wallpaper collection. But that doesn’t mean they look artificial. Recreation of the 1960s is a difficult job, but full marks to DoP Girish Gangadharan for transporting the audience back in time effortlessly.
Another aspect that helps is the music. Bijibal and Rex Vijayan have recreated legendary M.S. Baburaj’s classics like Thamasamenthe varuvan, Ekanthathayude mahatheeram and Pottithakarna kinavu keeping the essence of the original intact.
It’s only in the second half, when the film goes into the flashback mode, that the pace drops a bit. Another dampener is Shine Tom Chacko as the antagonist MN, but it’s not his fault entirely. He has been typecast as the villain is so many films of late (his mannerisms, too, haven’t helped), that, at times, it’s difficult to differentiate one character from another. Tovino essays the novelist well, with his signature charm and restraint. Even Rima doesn’t go overboard both as Bhargavi, and later as the ghost. Matthew as Sasikumar, too, puts in a nuanced performance, and his innate innocence lends a soothing touch to his romance with Bhargavi.
In fact, their romance might seem cheesy in today’s times, but there’s a certain old-world charm to it. Thankfully, there’s not much forced melodrama to stay true to the age that the film represents.
But mind you, it’s not all lovey-dovey throughout the film. It’s a horror film, after all (the jump scares work)! Minus the sinister laughs and the howls of the jackals, though.
P.S.: There’s a reason why Bhargavi the Ghost wears only white. Wish all the other female ghosts in Indian cinema learnt from her!
Film: Neelavelicham
Language: Malayalam
Director: Aashiq Abu
Cast: Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal, Shine Tom Chacko and others
Rating: 3.5/5
