Bakrid Review
Star Cast : Vikranth, Vasunthra, Shrutika
Director : Jegadeesan Subbu
Director Jagadeesan Subbu’s Bakrid’ is a poignant tale between an innocent farmer Rathinam (Vikranth) and his camel Shara. Though the film turns melodramatic in the second half, the message conveyed is subtle and not preachy.
Rathinam (Vikranth) legally gets his share of land from his elder brother but struggles to get money from various sources to kick start farming. Rathinam has certain principles in life and tries his best to teach the same to his daughter(Shruthika). While Rathinam’s daughter is adamant in getting Lays (chips) from the petty shop, he prefers buying her the local sweets(Kadalai Mittai). As he doesn’t want to hurt his daughter, Rathinam buys the chips packet. On returning home, he diverts her and gently passes the bought chips to his wife (Vasundhra) who puts it in a box place above and it’s filled with a lot of chips packets which were bought in the past. This one scene tells you the life principle of Rathinam and his family.
Just when Rathinam meets a moneylender, he sees both the mother camel and its offspring. The moneylender yells at the guys who brought the offspring along with its mother as it will be difficult to slaughter it for Qurbani in front of its own baby camel. Rathinam falls in love with the cuteness of the baby camel and asks the money lender to give the baby camel to him. Impressed with Rathninam's love towards animal and passion for farming, the moneylender agrees to give him the required money.
The arrival of the baby camel brings in joy, money and also sort out the bitter issues within the family. Things progress well until the Shara falls sick, the local doctor tells Rathinam that the climatic condition and food will not suit the camel. Now, Rathinam decides to leave the camel in Rajasthan through a lorry and travels along with it to unknown locales. The rest of the film is all about Rathinam’s hard journey from Chennai to Rajasthan….
Bakrid is easily the career-best performance of Vikranth who authentically portrayed his role of an innocent farmer. Hopefully, Bakrid should grab the attention of the filmmakers so that they offer better roles for this talented performer. Vasunthra who played as Vikranth’s wife looks perfect for a village homemaker and the kid Shrutika too has done a good job.
Imman’s music is undeniably the second hero of the film, his soulful score brings in so much novelty to Bakrid. Vishnu’s cinematography has beautifully covered the landscape from Chennai to Rajasthan, the camera angles also convey the strong bond between the camel and Vikranth.
Despite all these positives, the film occasionally turns melodramatic and the duration seems to be purposefully elongated which tests our patience here and there. And some questions remain unanswered - why should a a naive and financially broke farmer have so much feeling for a camel, that he wants to travel to Rajasthan to save it?
Nevertheless, Bakrid is a must-watch for all animal lovers. It’s a simple yet genuine film which would move the audiences with its core theme and heart-rending execution.
