Amal Neerad and Mammootty were planning to film the movie Bilal, the sequel to Big B. Due to COVID-19 lockdown, the project was delayed and they decided to collaborate for a small-scale film.[9]
Bheeshma Parvam was released on 3 March 2022 and received positive reviews from critics who praised the cast performances (especially Mammootty, Soubin Shahir and Shine Tom Chacko), direction, screenwriting, action sequences, cinematography, and music, but criticized its pace and runtime.[10] The film broke many box office records for a Malayalam film, crossing the ₹50 crore (US$6.6 million) mark on the fifth day of its release.[11][12] As of 3 April 2022[update], Bheeshma Parvam grossed over ₹115 crore (US$14 million).[13] The film is currently the fourth-highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time in both the worldwide and domestic box office.
Plot
In the late 1980s, Michael has been handling his family, one of the wealthiest ones in Kochi, and its business after his eldest brother Paily's death as Mathai, the second sibling is inept. Michael's late father Varkey has five children: Paily, Mathai, Michael, Simon and Susan; Paily was married to a Muslim Fathima, who after his death, was subsequently married to a close associate of the family named Ali, with whom she has two sons Ajas and Ami. Mathai and his wife Molly happen to have two sons namely Peter and Paul, both of whom deeply dislike Michael but simultaneously fear him along with the other members of family like Simon as Michael had horrifically slayed the sons of Kocheri family, who had assassinated Paily.
Simon is a priest while Susan married a corrupted police officer named Martin and has two children: Rachel and Abel, but her and her children's relationship with Martin is strained over Martin's infidelities. During the birthday party of Peter's son, Pauly, a woman whose son Prince was burnt to death by his girlfriend Elsa's high-caste family, and Elsa approach Michael, requesting him to help her seek revenge against them. Shivankutty, Michael's right-hand man beat Elsa's family members, who are responsible for Prince's death while it is disclosed that except for Annamma and Michael, Fathima and her sons are dear to none of the family. Michael offers Ami, a warehouse to set up a cafe but Peter and Paul, who control the warehouse, confronts Michael over his act but he restrains them from indulging in family business as it results in only losses.
Molly's brother James, a politician, consults Michael, appealing him for support to gain votes in the next elections but Michael refuses to accept as he has done nothing good for the public ever since he was elected. Their anger for Michael causes Peter, Paul, James and Simon to team up against him and put an end to his dominance over the rest of the family. James suggests the Kocheri family's head Iravi Pillai, who has a deep hatred for Michael for murdering his two sons, that he bring back his grandson Kocheri Rajan Madhavan Nair, a notorious crime boss known as "Bada Rajan" in Mumbai for him to avenge his father's and uncle's murders. The affair between Rachel and Ami is divulged to the family leading to a discussion, where Martin clearly refuses to allow their wedding, but Michael vows to unite them.
Martin, who hates Michael from earlier for preventing him from having any extra-marital relationships, now teams up with Peter and others as he dislikes Michael involving in the matter of Rachael's wedding. Rajan, Peter and Paul have Ami murdered on his way back from the cafe and Ami's friend Rahim informs Ajas that Peter and Paul were spotted at the crime spot when Ami was killed. Enraged, Ajas arrives at the house of Anjootti family and attacks Peter and Paul but Michael resists him and rebukes him as there is no explicit evidence against them, but warns Peter and Paul. Susan, Rachel and Abel move out from Martin after Ami's murder and Susan and Shivankutty tell Michael that Martin might be involved in Paily and Ali's deaths. While returning home from Susan's flat, a gang of thugs instructed by Rajan brutally attack Michael and his men, which results in Shivankutty's death.
Michael is hospitalized and regains his consciousness after three days, vowing to retribute and end the perpetrators in his family. Upon being instructed by Michael, Ajas kills Martin by driving a truck over him and later meets James, where he gives him a file that exposes all of his illegal activities. Scoffing Ajas, James claims that he shall return in two days from prison using his influence but Ajas counter-attacks by telling that he and Michael will be waiting to finish him. The police arrests a terrified James. Subsequently, Ajas meets a few victims of Simon and persuades them to file a case against him, swearing support. As a result, Simon is arrested. In a garage later, Ajas kills Peter and threatens Paul to leave from Kochi. Rajan is executed on commands from another crime boss "Chota Rajan", Rajan's mentee. Michael and Ajas visit Kocheri family to confirm Rajan's death. Michael passes on his position to Ajas.
Cast
Mammootty as Anjootti Michael “Michealappan”, patriarch of the Anjootti family
Soubin Shahir as Ajas Ali, Elder son of Ali and Fathima
Sreenath Bhasi as Ami Ali, Younger son of Ali and Fathima
Shine Tom Chacko as Anjootti Peter, Elder son of Mathai and Molly
Farhaan Faasil as Anjootti Paul, Younger son of Mathai and Molly
Sudev Nair as Rajan Madhavan Nair a.k.a. Bada Rajan
Nadhiya as Fathima Ali, Ali's wife and Anjootti Paily's first wife
Nedumudi Venu as Kochery Iravippilla, Rajan's grandfather
K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Karthyayaniyamma, Iravippilla's wife, Rajan's grandmother
Dotted lines indicate a love relationship between characters, and dashed lines indicate marriage relationship between characters.
† Indicates a deceased character.
Anjootti Family
Kocheri Family
Varkey †
Annamma
Iravippilla
Karthyayaniyamma
Madhavan †
Rema †
Sudhevan †
Ali †
Fathima
Paily †
Mathai
Moly
Michael
Fr. Simon
Susan
Martin †
Rajan Madhavan Nair †
Peter †
Jessy
Paul
Stephy
Rachel
Abel
Ajaz
Rasiya
Ami †
Production
Development
The integral portions of the film has been shot in Kochi.
Mammootty and Amal Neerad were originally supposed to collaborate for the sequel to Big B. The film, however, was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic as several scenes were to be shot abroad. The two subsequently teamed up for Bheeshma Parvam. Bheeshma Parvam is the reunion of Amal Neerad and Mammootty after 14 years. The film is produced by the director Amal Neerad himself under the banner of Amal Neerad Productions.[23]
Filming
On 21 February 2021, principal photography began in Kochi.[24] The filming of the film has been wrapped up on 21 September 2021.[25]
The film's soundtrack album and score was composed by Sushin Shyam. In an interview, Shyam revealed that making process of the soundtrack was a process that kept on evolving throughout the production, explaining: "When I did the teaser of Bheeshma Parvam, I had this idea, which wasn’t connected to the film at all. But after that, we thought of including that too in the film. So, basically it’s a process that keeps evolving, when you create a new tune, you think why not include it too. When I composed the track Parudeesa, it sort of gave me an idea about the music of the entire film."[26]
The soundtrack album, especially the track Parudeesa received highly positive reviews from critics.[27][28] Sajin Shrijith of The New Indian Express stated that "Sushin Shyam’s instantly immersive music alternates between various genres, from classical to contemporary and, at one point, evokes one of the spaghetti-western scores of Ennio Morricone".[29] The critic Veeyen[30] wrote, "Sushin Shyam’s arresting musical score leaves an extensive impression, and the upbeat track Parudeesa stands out from among the lot".[31]
Release
Theatrical
The film was originally scheduled to be released on eve of Dusshera (12 October 2021), but was postponed due to shooting works. The film was then scheduled to release on 23 December 2021 but was postponed again.[32] It was scheduled to release on 24 February 2022, but it was again delayed.[33] It finally was released on 3 March 2022.[1]
Home media
The satellite and digital rights of the film were secured by Asianet and Disney+ Hotstar. The film was streamed on Disney+ Hotstar on 1 April 2022, while it was premiered in Asianet on 7 September 2022 coinciding with Mammootty's birthday and Onam.
Reception
Box office
On the first day of its release, Bheeshma Parvam collected ₹6.95 crore (US$870,000) at the domestic box office.
On its Fifth day, the film collected ₹30 crore (US$3.8 million) from Indian box office and ₹25 crore (US$3.1 million) from overseas.[34] It is crossed the ₹50 crore (US$6.3 million) mark at the Kerala box office alone, within the first 25 days of its release.The film collected ₹32.6 crore (US$4.1 million) mark at the UAE GCC box office alone.
When it comes to the Kerala box office, the film has already emerged as the seventh all-time highest grosser beating Drishyam. It covered the lifetime collection of Drishyam within the first 18 days of its release.
On its third week, the film grossed ₹50 crore (US$6.3 million) in India and ₹45 crore (US$5.6 million) in overseas for a worldwide total of ₹82 crore (US$10 million) approximately.
[35] As of 3 April 2022[update], total business of Bheeshma Parvam grossed over ₹115 crore (US$14 million) worldwide including satellite and digital rights. It is currently the fourth-highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time in both the worldwide and domestic box office.[36][37]
Critical response
Sajin Shrijith of The New Indian Express wrote "Don’t go in if you expect a fight scene every five minutes. We get a fair amount of action, but it’s the character-centric moments in Bheeshma Parvam that tower above all else. And it has so many fascinating characters. None of them looked out of place or unnecessary. Everyone has something to contribute. Some traits are suggested through subtle and clever flourishes, like when Shine Tom Chacko’s character Peter reveals his true feelings for a male actor".[38]
Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated the film 3.75 out of 5 stars and wrote, “Bheeshma Parvam resides somewhere on the cusp between the Malayalam New New Wave that has taken India by storm during the pandemic and the conventional commercial cinema that continues to get an audience in Kerala. The film’s fight scenes are stylised, yet not repugnantly bloody and in-your-face. The leading man is lionised, but not to a nauseous extent. Women are given some space, but the action is entirely in the hands of men. It is a polished production, but not distractingly glossy. If I had to pick a category, I’d put Bheeshma Parvam in the not-bad-not-great slot. It’s okay.” [39]
Deepa Soman of The Times of India rated 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Right from the beginning, the film is careful enough to set its pace balanced and engaging, even as it organically establishes the characters, along with their backgrounds, place in the family tree and more with ease. Mammootty pleases as the invincible hero through his towering presence, body language, punch dialogues, stunts and more, giving those seeking entertainment enough moments to feel enthralled. Shine Tom Chacko, Sudev Nair and Soubin too are in top form in their respective roles. The treatment of the story has ensured that the women characters in it respectfully portrayed and a special attention to be politically correct, rightly so, is evident and laudable".
SR Praveen of The Hindu stated "All these characters still do not help paper over the fact that much of the basic story lacks any novelty. The simmering discontent within his home, and a man waiting to take revenge for Michael's actions in the past come together to haunt him; but knowing the pattern of such films, we certainly know how it will turn out. Until the last half an hour, Amal builds the film and Michael's character patiently in an unhurried pace that the audience can't be blamed for expecting it all to burst out like a dam towards the end. But this build-up kind of fizzles out towards the end, in what turns out to be a rather tame and hurried climax.".[40]
Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "The major players get their own ‘mass’ introduction scenes, and how heartwarming it is to see the audience welcome not only Mammootty but also Soubin, Sreenath Bhasi and Shine Tom Chacko with cheers. If we must persist with drawing parallels with the Mahabharata, Even without putting too much thought into comparisons and parallels with the epic or the Hollywood classic, Bheeshma Parvam still works. There are unexpected moments of humour in the film that had me chuckling several times; like the grandmother who’s watching The Terminator and advises Michael to buy a machine gun to finish his ‘work’ as a gangster quickly".[41]
In popular culture
A scene in the film where Michael (Mammootty) tells the photographer "Chambiko" (which translates to "Click the photo") became a viral trend on social media platforms such as Youtube Shorts and Instagram Reels.It trends weddings, family photoshoots, alumni meets and public events became the perfect venue to enact this dialogue, which is followed by Sushin Shyam's earworm of a BGM.[42]
The trend was not limited to family photos. Other film celebrities, politicians, teachers, police officers, sportspersons even soldiers jumped on the 'Chambiko' bandwagon.[43] Politicians including state Minister for Education and Labour V. Sivankutty. Other notable politicians who also joined in on the trend include, Vatakara MLA Parakkal Abdulla and Nilambur MLA P. V. Anwar.[44][45][46]
