Brother's Day review: A thriller etched with fun and frolic

Kalabhavan Shajon's directorial debut Brother's Day starring Prithviraj takes a track suited for the title. Prithvi takes the plot forward and he is indeed a doting brother, whose sister is overcoming a traumatic past.

But this is not about a brother alone. Shajon, who has also scripted the movie, fills the movie with a host of characters. So it is only natural that the movie will have a host of parallel tracks, akin to the family drama movies of 80s.

The initial part of Brother's Day is mostly a mix of fun and frolic revolving around Prithvi's character Ronnie and his buddy Munna who run a catering venture.

But the movie doesn't start with that. It starts with a flashback somewhere in Tamil Nadu with the tale of a family which disintegrates mostly because of a drunkard father.

There, the seeds of a brother's affection is sown, but it is also tragic. The doting brother has to murder his father and his paedophile friend to save his sister.

Bloodshed is natural, but the brother and sister also had to part ways, but unlike in the 80s, we are not sure if the brother is indeed our protagonist or the villain till the late part of the movie.

It could be someone else also and Shajon has crafted this suspense element well.

Apart from Ronni's sister enacted by Prayaga Martin, Shajon also lists three other actresses including Madonna, who is the protagonist's object of desire.

Aiswarya Lakshmi and Miya are characters woven to unravel the dark hues of our villain, played by Prasanna.

Prasanna's character is at first dicey and gradually a psycho element is shockingly revealed. So a psycho who is into blackmailing women takes Brother's Day from the initial masala mix to a thriller narrative.

Shajon has handled the change of pace well.

Then unravels the tale of Brother's Day with some fine action sequences, twists and turns.

Prithviraj has dabbled with a mix of comedy for Brother's Day's lighter moments while Prasanna stands out in the villianous character's dark hues.

The comic scenes at times drag the movie initially, but the action sequences have been carefully visualised.

Shajon has pitched Brother's Day as a family movie initially but he later swaps it to thriller mode.

The director has also used flashbacks a bit too much to unravel the plot and along with the songs, the the two-hour-forty-five-minute movie may be considered a bit lengthy.

But then it is positioned as an Onam release and that justifies a vast array of characters and the duration of the movie.

Brother's Day has all ingredients of a commercial entertainer though the presence of some characters may seem as a deliberate act by the filmmakers.

Shajon has also not bothered to unravel the reason behind the villain's psychic trait.

Since the movie begins in Tamil Nadu it is only apt that a Tamil song wafts in it, but the surprise is that it is in the voice of a Tamil star.

Shajon himself makes a cameo appearance towards the end to close the case of an apparent murder of a hardcore criminal from Tamil Nadu, which turns out to be our villain to redeem the movie from the dark clutches of a psycho killer so that peace, harmony, fun, frolic and romance can flow into the lives of our dear brother and his near and dear ones.