Bougainvillea

When Amal Neerad announced a new movie with Fahadh Faasil, I was excited to see what they'd have in store for us. Their combination in Iyobinte Pusthakam and Varathan produced some cinematic fireworks. This time they teamed up in a new psychological thriller Bougainvillea. Bougainvillea is thriller involving David Koshy, played by Fahadh Faasil, who is sets out to investigate missing girls and women from a town in Kerala where Reethu, played by Jyothirmayi, and her husband Dr. Royce Thomas, played by Kunchacko Boban live. Reethu and Royce meet with a car accident 8 years ago and as a result Reethu loses her memory. How is she related to the missing girls and why is David Koshy investigating Reethu despite her memory loss forms the rest of the story.

In typical Amal Neerad style, the movie is packed with technical brilliance. Be it the screenplay, cinematography, editing or sound. Amal leaves us enough breadcrumbs throughout the plot for us to guess what might be going on and we will be able to. As this is a psychological thriller and not a suspense thriller. The thrill comes from the "howdunnit?" instead of the "whodunnit?" aspect. I must say that Amal was successful in generating that interest till the climax.

This story is based on a novel called "Ruthinte Lokam" (Ruth's World) written by Lijo Jose, who co-wrote this movie with Amal Neerad. Jyothirmayi delivers a solid performance as ailing Reethu who is struggling to make sense of the happenings around her. So was Kunchacko Boban as Royce Thomas who stands support to her wife. Fahadh Faasil delivers an ok performance in a character that had barely any scope to perform.

While the movie keeps you engaging, it needed a better act 3 and climax to deliver that thrill. But unfortunately, this ended up being an average and unsatisfying watch.