Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/poomaram-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/
Abrid Shine makes star-studded (or at least, star son-studded) feature films, but he has the heart of an empathetic documentarian. In 1983, he deposited us in the midst of village cricket – though there was still the sense of a story, the sense of a protagonist who would guide us through it. Action Hero Biju was looser – though, again, with a central character holding the episodic narrative together. Poomaram (Blooming Tree), which is about an inter-collegiate arts festival, dispenses with these “fictional” tropes altogether, and becomes the cinematic equivalent of a wide-angle shot. Most films are close-ups, zooming in and directing our eyes to characters and situations. In Poomaram, the eye is free to wander. Every frame is packed, layered. Look here, and you see a thirsty policeman chugging down water. Look there, and it’s a dancer being fed carefully by her mother, so her makeup isn’t ruined.
This design isn’t immediately apparent, for the film – at first – sets up convenient (and conventional) oppositions: the girls of St. Teresa’s College vs. the students of Maharaja College. (There are over 60 colleges participating, but focusing on everyone would be too much of a wide-angle. So the director, understandably, zooms in on these two institutions.) Looking at the more privileged, English-speaking, bred-to-be-champs students of St. Teresa’s (they’ve won the trophy five years running) versus the mundu-clad, Malayalam-spouting “commoners” of Maharaja College, I thought Poomaram was going to be a replay of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (or its source, Breaking Away), set in Ernakulam – but issues of class and gender are relegated to the background. In the forefront is the artistic process – the planning, the preparation, the performance.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2018 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Murali Mohan
March 22, 2018
A little unfair to say Abrid Shine makes star-studded movies. He has made only 3 movies and his first had Nivin, when he was not a big star.
LikeLike
Anu Warrier
March 22, 2018
‘Mundu-clad, Malayalam-spouting commoners’ – in Maharaja’s? Man, things must have changed drastically since the time we went there for the youth fest!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aman
March 22, 2018
Many new age directors of malayalam cinema studied in Maharajas ( Rajeev Ravi, Amal Neerad, Aashiq Abu, Anwar Rasheed, Sameer Tahir and many others) and I doubt they were the mundu-clad good boys, heard film makes a reference to them at the beginning of the film. Abrid Shine’s last film was an atrocity on human rights, glorifying police in the garb of realism. This looks a departure from that with gentle souls all around.
LikeLike
Krishikari
March 23, 2018
@”Abrid Shine’s last film was an atrocity on human rights, glorifying police in the garb of realism.”
Are you refering to Action Hero Biju? Yes it was a little fascist with a regressive view of women, all that…but also hilariously entertaining which I think makes it good film making. The content should have put me right off but it didn’t, because it wasn’t realism at all. I can see how it could dismay people who don’t find Nivin Pauly charming. It was not exactly a ‘Birth of a nation’ level film, which one is supposed to appreciate as a pioneer of film technique but is abs. unstomachable.
LikeLike
Manikandan
March 23, 2018
Poomaram – Pretty much overwhelming to watch this movie – innumerable faces people and reactions sudden bursts of songs dances performances on varied backgrounds classical popular folk across the movie makes viewers humble and silent. its almost equal to real life – reality reconstructed is almost surreal to believe its been done – director doesn’t even tries to make a point but naturally images wise communication is already happening about the vision he has, what lovely lively songs – Excellent watch.
LikeLike
tonks
March 23, 2018
This movie’s release took such a long time, it’s song Njaanum njaanum entaalum was a huge hit in 2016. One of many Malayalam songs to go viral recently. Entammedey jimikki kammal was a much bigger phenomenon in 2017. And even that was eclipsed by the new kid on the block : they’ve just begun shooting in Thrissur, for Oru Adaar Love (Priya Prakash Varrier was spotted by someone I know, facing the camera today).
LikeLike
sree
March 24, 2018
1983, action hero biju and poomaram- 3 back to back amazingly beautiful films.. Abrid shine is a director to watch out for
LikeLike
Rishikesh
March 26, 2018
The pace of the film was bit frustrating for me initially, and took a lot of getting used to. But after the half way mark, things got better, as I watched it from the perspective of a wide angle shot, as you had mentioned. Yet the film, lacks the consistency that Abrid’s earlier film had. I thought he was unsure about pitching it as something basic (story of two equally competitive boys going head to head or follow that episodical structure, where a series of incidents make up a narrative. Also it fails to explore the acting abilities of Kalidasan, not the least because he gets a heavy-weight character that is not easy to connect with, unlike the boy who played ‘Kili’ or the girl in the role of ‘Malu’ , who were infinitely better in their parts.
There are some good moments in the film, but lack of memorable moments/characters does take some sheen off this bold experiment
LikeLike
Manu
March 30, 2018
Wonderful write up sir…i wasnt even aware of that shot which encapsulates the entire movie until i read your review..thank u
LikeLike
brangan
March 30, 2018
Manu: Oh, I don’t know if the shot “encapsulates” the film, but it’s a gorgeous shot 🙂
LikeLike
brangan
March 30, 2018
Manu: Forgot to add (SPOILERS AHEAD):
The shot can be read more literally too. What is the “essence” of the shot? That this man (Gauthaman) is getting wisdom under a tree. And it leads to an art installation about…. another Gautama who got his wisdom under a tree!
LikeLike
Sriram G
September 14, 2018
Hi BR,
Watched the movie yesterday.
I could appreciate the movie much better after reading the review. Thank you for that.
As Tonks mentioned, I saw the song Njaanum njaanum entaalum on Youtube and loved the simple melody and was captivated by it.
Though I am not a big critic of the movies than most of the people in this forum are, i liked the movie for it’s simplicity and an all encompassing narrative.
LikeLike