BKU exudes the pleasant energy of Sathyan Anthikad films of the 80s and 90s with its large ensemble, friendly neighbourhood ecosystem, family members who feel like actual people, and a consistent dose of humour. It is populated by a string of interesting characters, ranging from a hilarious flirt (Roshan Shanavas), a suspicious uncle (Vinay Forrt), a friendly boomer (Suresh Krishna), an instigating aunt (Bindu Panicker), fun cousins, and an eccentric and regressive Chakyar Koothu artist Hari (Shyam Mohan).<\/p>\n
But more than anything, BKU is at its best while handling the Justin-Ashley portions. Ashley is young, sprightly, and impulsive, while Justin is more cautious. Having already suffered heartbreak, he understands the complications and consequences of a relationship like this and prefers to take things slow. As someone who enjoys the freedoms of his ‘sigma’ life, he finds the initial phase of love hard, where you are expected to make time for the other person.<\/p>\n
Nivin and Mamitha share a sparkling chemistry, not once making their relationship look odd. What starts off as infatuation gradually develops into something deeper, and there’s an ease with which the two actors handle these scenes. A telling example of this is the pre-interval stretch that begins with a slight tension between the two characters, before resulting in a rousing high. The whole sequence is a beautiful combination of solid acting, unpretentious writing and excellent staging. When Justin sheepishly says, ‘Love you, too,’ you can’t think of anyone but Nivin to pull it off so endearingly.<\/p>\n
BKU also has its share of shortcomings, especially with the scenes involving Justin’s brother Joel (Sangeeth) and his troubled relationship with a girl and her family. Shyam Mohan, another Premalu actor in this film, plays a caricaturish character who initially appears promising but is too stretched, probably for the theatrical cheers his exaggerated antics might elicit. But it still feels like the film spends a bit too much time on that track, effectively keeping us away from Justin and Ashley.<\/p>\n
BKU may not be Girish’s best film yet, but it still has plenty of enjoyable moments that easily overpower whatever little negatives it has. Currently, there aren’t many around who can consistently pull off slice-of-life dramas with such charm and appeal, and there’s no reason for the director to change tracks. Why fix what isn’t broken?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BKU exudes the pleasant energy of Sathyan Anthikad films of the 80s and 90s with its large ensemble,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,113527,113614,113703,113526,154,3061,3059,113622,113705,113685,113704],"class_list":["post-269605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-kudumba-unit-movie-review","tag-bethlehem-kudumba-unit-rating","tag-bethlehem-kudumba-unit-response","tag-bethlehem-kudumba-unit-review","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-girish-ad","tag-nivin-pauly","tag-sangeeth-prathap","tag-srinda","tag-suresh-krishna","tag-vinay-forrt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}