Bheeshma Parvam

Produced, directed and co-written by Amal Neerad, with screen writing support from Devadath Shaji and Ravishanker , with additional dialogues by Mano Jose; "Bheeshma Parvam" is an excellent retelling of Mahabharatha in a "Godfather" style with local flavour  the setting being 80's Kochi. The 80's have been wonderfully recreated; the way of life, music, fashion, movie - all of these have been captured well with autos and cars of that period, 13AD Band, bellbottoms, ads then  all nostalgic for people who have lived during that time period. 

(L to R) Ravi Shankar, Amal Neeerad, Devadath, Mammootty, Mano Jose, Anend C Chandran (Cinematographer).

Performance by an ensemble cast led by the Megastar Mammotty as Michael Anjootti the patriarch of the Anjootti family, the Bheeshma is outstanding. 

Varkey Anjootti and Annamma Anjootti are a respected couple in Kochi. They have five children:

• Paily, the oldest of the five, who is now dead, was married to Fathima and Fathima remarries Ali, a close aide of the Anjootti family, and has 2 children, Ajas and Ami.
• Mathai, the second oldest of the five, is married to Molly and has 2 children, Peter and Paul.
• Michael, the third oldest of the five, is not married.
• Simon, the fourth oldest of the five, became a priest.
• Susan, the youngest of the five, is married to Martin and has 2 children, Able and Rachel.

It also includes Michael’s loyalists Mani and Sivankutty, Michael’s girlfriend Alice, and the Kocheri family, who are hostile to the Family. Majeed was Varkey’s best friend. Ali is Majeed’s son and Madhavan’s wife’s name is Rema. 

The house shown in the movie, where they stay is nearly around 135 years old traditional home, known as  Villa de Parrai, which is situated at Ezhupunna near Cherthala in Alappuzha district, with 8th generation of the family now owning it. 

In 1988 Kochi, at the birthday of his grand-nephew, Michael, the Don of the Anjootti family who takes over the family after the death of the Anjootti family's eldest son, Paily, as the second son, Mathai was an idler. Elsa, whose boyfriend was being set on fire by her family and Pauly, the boyfriend's mother seek Michael's help for an act of revenge. Shivankutty, the right-hand man of Michael, beats Elsa's family as per the instruction of Michael. The whole family of Anjootti family comes together for the birthday of Peter's kid and a family photograph.

Much to the chagrin and dislike of his nephews - Peter (Shine Tom Chacko) and Paul (Farhaan Fazil), their uncle T V James, MP (Dileesh Pothen) as well as Micheal's younger brother - Father Simon (Jinu Joseph) the family is led by an iron - fisted Micheal (Mammootty). Like Bheeshma, Micheal controls the proceedings from the hospital bed and let the youngsters take center stage, after revealing in the first half, that he cannot be killed, until he wills,  justifies its title. Michael shows a lot of concern towards Fatima (Nadiya Moidu) - his dead brother's wife and her sons from a second marriage - Ajaz (Soubin Shahir) and Ami (Srinath Bhasi). 

Ami falls for Rachel (Anagha), the daughter of Susan (Lena). How this relationship creates chaos within the family and how Rajan Madhavan Nair (Sudev Nair) joins the fray to take revenge on Micheal, is what the rest of the narrative is all about. This is also the swansong of KPAC Lalitha and Nedumudi Venu as Rajan's grandparents, frail yet amazing evoking emotions and memories now that they are no more.

Switch on for the movie was by Nazriya and Jyothirmayi. 

And there is a big family behind the scene too. 

And has made many families get back to the cinema, with a mini India with present day diversity and conflicts including politics and religion indeed proving, Mahabharata has everything in it.