The story of Brahm is fantastic. Also, Part of the execution is well done, by having a story about a web of illusions which is slowly unravelling, and telling that story mostly via flashbacks. In the beginning, the movies gives you almost a David-Lynch kind of feeling, with seemingly off-plot scenes - but after a while you begin to understand: those seemingly loose ends were not actually means to the end of interrupting the narrative you were attempting to construct - they actually are loose ends. The confusing scenes which throw you off-balance are not actually meant to alienate you from the story in the eerie-David-Lynch way - they are just displays of the massive and random incapability of the screenwriters team.
It's actually quite amazing to see just how many mistakes they made. From incredibly stupid dialogs ("is that Greek?" - "maybe I am a geek"), to even more incredibly stupid characterization-devices ("boy", says Shan to supermodel Antara, who must be an air-head because she is a model, right? "you read so many books?" Could it be she has a brain after all?), from just random-out-of-the-blue plot twists (suddenly, after a relative stranger Antara accuses Devendra of rape and murder, both his wife and his own brother believe unconditionally that Devendra is a rapist and a murderer, even while we've just seen them a few minutes before declaring their undying love and trust in the Great Man) to an ending which is as predictable as it is pathetic, the screenwriters' unique talent for making mistakes is just unending.
But even with all these mistakes, it's still a movie which is "mweh, not so bad" - not a complete excruciating bore. The reason is the actors.
First the two leads: Dino Morea and Sheetal Menon. Dino is just about alright as the cheeky but romantic here who accidentally walked into a film noir. Sheetal Menon is sizzlingly hot. And please understand: I too am against the (recent) trend of young "actresses" bearing all without reason in Bollywood-movies - you know who I am talking about, those starlets who mistake showing skin and pouting lips for "talent". But Sheetal's role here is different. Not only does her role here require her to be sexy, but she achieves this not by showing gratuitous skin, but by her presence (and well, yes, also showing some skin - but not even that much when compared to let's say, a Mallika Sherawat). A good performance for a débutante - the moments where she becomes unbelievable (when she "recognizes" Dev as the rapist and murderer of her sister, to name one example) mainly have to do because of the bad screenplay the writers have given her.
Them the other pair: older brother Devendra played by Milind and his wife, played by Simone Singh. Especially the latter gives a stellar performance, first as the funny, sweet and loving housewife, then as the disappointed and heartbroken woman. But Milind also has some strong scenes, especially at the end, where we get to see what happened according to Devendra, had some really good scenes from him.
Ohyes, and also there is just human curiosity to help you sit through the film. You just want to know what happened.
So all in all, the story is good, but the writers ruined it. One wishes David Lynch would actually take up this idea and make his first Bollywood-movie called "Bhram: The way it should have been done". That would have been a brilliant film for sure!
It's actually quite amazing to see just how many mistakes they made. From incredibly stupid dialogs ("is that Greek?" - "maybe I am a geek"), to even more incredibly stupid characterization-devices ("boy", says Shan to supermodel Antara, who must be an air-head because she is a model, right? "you read so many books?" Could it be she has a brain after all?), from just random-out-of-the-blue plot twists (suddenly, after a relative stranger Antara accuses Devendra of rape and murder, both his wife and his own brother believe unconditionally that Devendra is a rapist and a murderer, even while we've just seen them a few minutes before declaring their undying love and trust in the Great Man) to an ending which is as predictable as it is pathetic, the screenwriters' unique talent for making mistakes is just unending.
But even with all these mistakes, it's still a movie which is "mweh, not so bad" - not a complete excruciating bore. The reason is the actors.
First the two leads: Dino Morea and Sheetal Menon. Dino is just about alright as the cheeky but romantic here who accidentally walked into a film noir. Sheetal Menon is sizzlingly hot. And please understand: I too am against the (recent) trend of young "actresses" bearing all without reason in Bollywood-movies - you know who I am talking about, those starlets who mistake showing skin and pouting lips for "talent". But Sheetal's role here is different. Not only does her role here require her to be sexy, but she achieves this not by showing gratuitous skin, but by her presence (and well, yes, also showing some skin - but not even that much when compared to let's say, a Mallika Sherawat). A good performance for a débutante - the moments where she becomes unbelievable (when she "recognizes" Dev as the rapist and murderer of her sister, to name one example) mainly have to do because of the bad screenplay the writers have given her.
Them the other pair: older brother Devendra played by Milind and his wife, played by Simone Singh. Especially the latter gives a stellar performance, first as the funny, sweet and loving housewife, then as the disappointed and heartbroken woman. But Milind also has some strong scenes, especially at the end, where we get to see what happened according to Devendra, had some really good scenes from him.
Ohyes, and also there is just human curiosity to help you sit through the film. You just want to know what happened.
So all in all, the story is good, but the writers ruined it. One wishes David Lynch would actually take up this idea and make his first Bollywood-movie called "Bhram: The way it should have been done". That would have been a brilliant film for sure!