The film is stuffed with lip-smacking ingredients, but the pace is too measured, the telling is too conventional to accommodate its more outrageous plot points.
Spoilers ahead…
There’s something wonderfully dependable about Achyuth Kumar. Some actors are born with sharp and extremely defining features, but his is one of those “blank canvas” faces that absorbs the writing and projects everything from comedy to villainy. He is the best part of Karthik Saragur’s impressively titled Bheemasena Nalamaharaja. The character Achyuth plays is a tradition-bound Brahmin named Varadharajan, and he makes this man a monster (compared to Hitler, at one point) without making him a caricature. How can so soft-looking a man seem so… evil? But later, when we learn things about Varadharajan, the puzzle pieces fit. The fluctuations in the character don’t seem contradictory, because the actor puts them through most naturally, with minimal “actorly” fussing. He knows just how much tempering is needed to add just enough flavour to serve up a memorable personality. And that’s a way of segueing to the point that this film uses food as a metaphor.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
brangan
October 29, 2020
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Satya
October 29, 2020
How can so soft-looking a man seem so… evil?
He is indeed a great actor, BR. He manages to kind of humanise the slightly caricaturish ACP in Vikram Vedha. I doubt if any other actor would have pulled that off that convincingly.
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Yajiv
October 30, 2020
Hi BR, a request. Could we get English subtitles for Kairam Vaashi’s video reviews?
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brangan
October 31, 2020
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