Had not heard of this Malayalam film when it released on the big screen and decided to watch it on OTT only for its Director Amal Neerad. His films are usually stylishly framed and aesthetically well presented having started off as a cinematographer. The film also boasted of some fine actors like Fahadh Faasil and Kunchacko Boban in its cast, enough reasons to watch it. I can say that the film did not belie the expectations.
The film opens with a shot of a car with a couple in a romantic mood on a highway with the romantic Hindi song ‘Nile nile ambar…’ playing in the background. Soon enough we see the car in a bad accident. Cut to 8 years later, the couple played by Kunchacko Boban and Jyothirmayi are leading a quiet life in the hills of Kerala. Just that the wife is suffering now from a bout of amnesia probably in the wake of that accident. The husband – a doctor by profession, does everything an ideal husband would do, to take care of his wife in that condition. The film that moves in a very slow and calm pace till now, gets the first twist when Fahadh arrives in the scene as a police officer investigating a missing girl case. The reason he is here is because the police found the picture of the wife in a CCTV camera footage from where the girl went missing.
The story from here, gets very interesting. The pace is still slow. The police officers are at their wits end when they are stonewalled in the investigation by the lady’s inconsistent statements due to her memory situation though they believe they have enough reasons to suspect her and pin her down. From here, the film takes the mystery thriller whodunit route and as the mystery unravels, the film also falls apart.
As the police get closer to the culprit, we understand that the culprit is a psycho and the flash back scenes trying to establish the motive, I found them bizarre and random. The time we get the hint of the culprit which is made very obvious to us, is when the screenplay loses its steam and novelty.
Still the film is watchable and held together by the craft. The background score by Sushin Shyam which is heavy on the strings resonates well with the genre of the film without going overboard. The camera work by Anand C. Chandran with some very imaginative lighting and camera angles add to the mood of the film. Jyothirmayi as Reethu, the wife suffering from amnesia does a fine job switching back and forth from being normal and being miserable as she can’t recall key incidents from her past. Kunchacko Boban as her doctor husband and the male lead is equally impressive. Fahadh Faasil’s character is more of a guest appearance and he does it without sweating much.
The film has a very few characters and revolves around one or two locations. Yet the cinematography and framing of the shots leave a lasting impact on us. But for the graphic violence and gore. Bougainvillea is a good watch for most parts particularly if you like slow burn whodunit thrillers. It is streaming now on Sony Liv.
Postscript: Starting from the title, did the film remind anyone else of Bharathiraja’s Sigappu Rojakkal?
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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