Neelavelicham, Blue turn of a black and white Classic

If you are a conditioned admirer of blood thirsty vampires and an exclusive subscriber of Netflix jumpscares ,'Neelavelicham' can't work on you. But for your parents, this will be a colorful nostalgia. It could keep the classic elements of Vaikom Muhammad bhasheer's short story named the same affixed with some technical superiority. 

Bargavinilayam, is a popular phrase for every haunted house in Kerala since the last sixty years. It's considered as a pioneer horror film in Malayalam film industry that tells the story of Bargavi and her boyfriend Sasikumar. The adapted version Neelavelicham also displays their love, tragedy and the crime that happens in this plot with very little deviations from the original film. It adds the advancement of technology to make the film more convincing and visually memorable. 

Is there a Ghost...?

The protagonist sees Bargavi. Other characters  also see and experience the presence of Bargavi. But nobody has ever seen somebody seeing Bargavi. This is the whole point that make some intellectually analitical audience to conclude that Bargavi is just a hallucination. The materialistic impact created by the spirit can also be viewed in this perspective since the effect of hallucinations are highly subjective. The film never shows two subjects with similar experience of Bargavi at the same time. This is a bending task put forward by the makers that keeps the mystery arguable.

Why did the dailogues are presented as that of a vintage theatre play?

As its an experimental film, i think the dailogues and its mode of delivery is an intentional approach from the makers. The film doesn't claim to be a modern version of "Bargavi nilayam". Its made in such a way that it should contain the feel of 1960s except for frames and visual effects. Dailogues are thus pronounced in classical Malayalam accent without any compromise with realistic accents. This is the same reason for contemporary audience not to get it relatable. Large part of the script have soliloquies from the protagonist and his communications with Bargavi in a highly literal and poetic tone. This will make the film like a drama or almost similar to the films that the elder generation have seen on their cinephilic youthful days.

Music, background score and vfx.

This is the best aspect of the film that deserve special applause. Evergreen songs like "Pottithakarnna kinaavukondoru pattunooloonjaala ketti njaan..", Vaishaagha pournami naali...., Thaamasamenthe varuvaan etc.... nicely recreated without any modern junks and noises. Those poetic lyrics are considered as a textbook for malayali audience to the literature once. The impact and romanticism imparted by these songs are forcefully invites recheck after experiencing this recent versions. Vfx were of glowing blue with high quality precison and saturation, utilising the convenience of darkness in its best possible way.

Performances.

Reema kallinkal is just wow. Since her physicality represent more like an ideal version of heroines of that time in all the aesthetic parametric, she literally marks her presence in every scenes. Her voluntarily confused romantic gestures, anxieties, helplessness and finely decorated eyebrows and lashes are all intricately outpouring the sea of romance what the protagonist tries to write down. Tovino thomas also handled the first draging part of the script in his lonely shoulders. Though the performance can be doubted with respect to a matured writer he portrays, he gave a convincing attempt. Shine tom chacko, as he is getting monotonous with his recent performances, but also played his character well.

Rating.

I am giving 7/10 for Neelavelicham. This film may not work for today's generation who expect augmented reality and jumpscares in horror films. This is actually a modern take of olden film that's made with modern technology for older generation.