Bloody Beggar: An Intelligent Dark Comedy with Twists Galore
Director Nelson known for his dark comedies has turned producer for the quirky 'Bloody Beggar' directed by associate director Sivabalan. Will this intelligently written but unevenly paced wannabe laugh riot impress all sections of the movie going audiences remains to be seen.
Kavin plays the title role of the beggar with an attitude who aspires to see what's inside a huge palace. He also has a bone to pick with a seven year old boy who lives with him but prefers to sell cheap things for livelihood rather than begging. One fine day the 'Bloody Beggar' as everyone calls him gets a chance to visit the palace and ends up getting locked in. He decides to enjoy the luxuries but to his horror he finds out that there is a murderous group of people who force him to impersonate the legal heir of the palace. What happens next is a mixed bag of comedies of all varieties ranging from the absurdist to slapstick to a few intelligent ones.
Kavin is on a sure footing in Tamil cinema and 'Bloody Beggar' is one more character that helps showcase his versatility. If he manages to keep the audience smiling with his devilish beggar act he also succeeds in making them teary eyed when we get to see what happened to him in the past. But above all Kavin has also physically maintained a crooked body posture throughout the film to own the character admirably. The supporting actors have all contributed immensely to get the ball rolling and each one of them have their own scenes. For example Reding Kingsley plays an out of the world role while Arshad is a scream as the method actor who transforms into several bizarre characters that were once portrayed by his superstar grandfather. Similarly the lesser known actresses Priyadarshini Rajkumar, Miss Saleema, Dhivya Vikram and Tanuja Madhurapantula take pure murderous evilness to the next level. The little boy has a crucial role and so does veteran Radha Ravi who creates his own havoc in the climax.
What works best in 'Bloody Beggar' is the twist after twist the writer director throws at the audience. You tend to assume that Kavin will be the heir to the palace but in this alone there are two other red herrings with Kavin being one of them. Perplexing? Well there is more to come. The real connection between the palace people and the hero is revealed at the end and that is not comedy or heroism but a very emotional tragedy. Though the humour is absurdist the setups are clever and you can't help guffaws at a handful of gruesome murders. Coming to the emotions there is a love story at the core that is touching and also the reason why Kavin distances himself from the little boy is moving.
On the downside, while there are a dozen scenes and jokes that work individually the film as a whole is underwhelming. There is a feeling that 'Bloody Beggar' has the potential but fails to become that laugh riot of the year which is disappointing. There are pacing issues as well and the deliberate slow burn may be off putting for the general audiences.
Coming to the technicalities Jen Martin has provided an energetic background score reminiscent of western dark comedies. Cinematographer Sujith Sarang has done his bit to present the quirkiness using innovative angles and lighting. A smooth flow is missing from Nirmal's editing. The subject of 'Bloody Beggar' underlines why Nelson chose to produce it. Debutant Sivabalan Muthukumar has written an intelligent dark comedy with twists galore that demands more audience participation.
Verdict : Go for this different dark comedy effort with twists and turns that keeps the audience guessing till the very end.
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