Mohanlal, Malayalam Super Star is known for his intense and interesting films. He is coming to entertain movie lovers with his film Barroz offering X Mas treat to everyone. The film is based on the novel by the same name and let us see what is in store in Barroz for movie lovers.
Barroz story is a fantasy entertainer dated four hundred years back involving a cursed servant and a young girl and the hidden treasure and the interesting developments revolving around them. In 2020 Barroz (Mohan Lal) tries to convince Isabella (Maya Rao West) to retrieve the 400 year old hidden treasure of their ancestors "Da Gama” family.
Why Barroz wants Isabella to retrieve the hidden treasure and what is the curse on him, and what role Mendoza (DCesar Lorente Raton), Cristovao Da Gam (Ignacio Mateos), Theresa Da Gama (Kallirroi Tziafeta), Ron Madhav (Tuhin Menon) play form the interesting part in the proceedings.
Mohanlal slipped into the role effortlessly. He impresses with his acting and screenpresence. He thrills with his stunts and enacting action sequences and also emoted well. His makeup looked apt for the role. Surprisingly movie started with megastar chiranjeevi voice over. but this kind of weak script didn't required mega voice.
Maya Rao West disappoints with her performance. The makers roped her in as she is from Portugal. However she failed to do justice and couldn't come up with basic expressions and emotions. Kallirroi Tziafeta is good in her role and made an impact with her performance.
Cesar Lorente Raton did justice to his role. Others like Nerea Camacho, Tuhin Menon, Daniel Caltagirone, June Vig, Saju Navodaya & all performed according to their roles.
Barroz story is inspired by novel named “Barroz: Guardian of D’Gama’s Treasure” by Jijo Punnoose. Lalettan made is debut with this film and he tried to entertain movie lovers especially children with the 3D fantasy entertainer. But except for the cinematography and graphics, nothing fell in place.
The story lacked the emotional depth despite the interesting flocklore and fantasy elements in it.Right from the start till the finish, the dead slow narration and screenplay tests the patience of the viewers. If not for Mohan Lal, many would have walked out of the theatres by the end of first 15 minutes.
Except for the few scenes during the pre interval and during the climax, nothing excites viewers. The lack of entertaining elements in the story turns out to be the biggest disappointment. Mohan Lal should have worked on the script and added scenes to entertain viewers and also elevated the emotions to connect chords with them.
The songs and background music impacted the film in a big way. The songs of Lydian Nadaswaram, Miguel Gurrerio & Fernado Gurrerio acted as speedbrakers and infact tested the patience of the viewers. Same is the case with the background score of Mark Kilian who failed to make any impact.
Santosh Sivan's cinematography is good. He beautified the film with his talent. Ajith Kumar.B's editing failed miserably. There are many scenes that dragged the pace of the film and it seems he was overawed by the presence of Mohan Lal. The graphic and VFX along with the 3D effects are of top standard. Production values are grand.
Altogether, Barroz turns out to be high on VFX and low on emotions. The film which released amidst huge expectations banking on Mohanlal's superstardom failed to connect chords with the viewers with a lack of emotions, a lifeless and soulless story, screenplay and direction. Considering all these points, Cinejosh goes with a 2 rating for Barroz.