Brahman Naman, 2016.
Directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee.
Starring Shashank Arora, Tanmay Dhanania, Vaishwath Shankar, Subholina Sen, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, Anula Shirish Navlekar and Denzil Smith.
SYNOPSIS:
A college quiz team travel across India to become the national champions, and to lose their virginities.
It’s 1980s India: a band of intelligent yet arrogant male students spend their days pining after the hot girls, consume more alcohol then many of the older kids at college, and tell tall tales of conquering the ladies. Leading this band of misfits is the bossy Naman (Shashank Arora) who belittles those around him: notably towards Ash (Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy), a spotted-face fellow quasi-quiz team member, who desires Naman, but she doesn’t live up to Naman’s ideal model girlfriend. In fact, Naman has his eyes set on Rita (Subholina Sen) but is too shy to make real contact, and resorts to awkward, anxious phone calls.
The film projects Naman’s imagination of Rita as a hotline model, lounging in bed wearing scantily clad lingerie, stockings, and high-heels. These fantasy images do convey Naman’s lack of realistic expectations, which provides space for humour as well as astute commentary of the teenage mind (he probably does think that’s what Rita does all day at home). Marked out as a joke to evolve into a life lesson about misogyny in the film’s final act – his treatment of Ash is despicable that is unforgivably masked as genuine drama – this trajectory feels weightless for the gags are hit and miss, and the abrupt unveiling of the lesson feels tacked on. We may chuckle at his perverted young mind, but his actions cannot mask such fundamental issues.
Other visual problems come from the overuse of wide-angle close-ups, and the cutaways from the story to title cards reciting questions. These uncomfortable close-up compositions serve minimal purpose to the narrative. If anything it only foregrounds the film’s budgetary constraints. The cutaways only make the film-watching experience, for like the jarring shot compositions, these serve minimal purpose – only to remind the audience that these characters are on a quiz tournament – and disrupt the narrative flow to make the 95 minute runtime feel significantly longer.
These major points come to squander some of the finer, overall points of the film. Naman’s relationship with Ajay (Tanmay Dhanania) is rather adorable, as two rude and arrogant yet naive dorks interact with such a mutual understand of the other ones shortcomings – though, never explicitly said. There is indeed much rapport between the two actors.
The dialogue-heavy screenplay written Naman Ramachandran has plenty of quips, banter, and is aided by fully-realised characters. These quizzical intellects mesh English literature with dick jokes, and devise complex handshakes and high-fives as a markers of victory – and a way to mark out the social hierarchy in Naman and Ajay’s mind. Furthermore, Ramachandran doesn’t spare on the details of Naman’s masturbatory techniques – something that filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee unabashedly projects on-screen.
This teen sex comedy has an anarchic spirit, and some well-earned gross-out moments, but is squandered by a poorly paced film and uncomfortable visuals.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Matthew Lee
Brahman Naman launches on 7 July, exclusively on Netflix.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 29, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
