Bhadram follows the central character Venu (Ashok Selvan), a M.A criminology passed out (Osmania University) and a bright prospect lands himself a job with a Radical detective agency in Hyderabad. His duty is to shadow people and collect information on them. He completes his first few assignments of collecting all the data of subject in flying colours and during the course of his next assignment he meets Madhu Sri (Janani Iyer), who happens to be the subject. In the meantime, Venu finds out that one after another the subjects dying in mysterious manner. Parallely, love blossoms between the Venu - Madhu and whether will he be able to save Madhu Sri from the coming crisis and arrest the anon and mystifying offenders forms rest of the plot.
Ashok Selvan, does well in the intense scenes when he is left in a spot of annoyance and eases through the romance sequences with the pretty Janani Iyer. The way their romance develops is artificial but Janani's role is better than the ones that you have seen in Vaadu Veedu. Ameer as Ashok's close friend keeps offering tips and keeps the scenes light with his dialogues. Jayaprakash is brilliant as the officer Raghuram and his histrionics are pleasing. Rest of the characters elevate the mood of the film with their performances.
The story of the film is inspired from TV Series "CSI: Miami - Kill Clause" (2009) and our Telugu film Koncham Touchlo Vunte Cheputanu (2004). Bhadram background and setting is based on a scam and how a fresher in criminology attempts to expose the link between the insurance and detective agency. The screenplay of the film is slow but maintains to entertain with its different elements. Movie has its own loopholes as well. A detective falling into trap, sharing his work secrets with his roommate as if like sharing the film news, Being a secured shadowing and surveillance makers didn't even care to provide security to cars or use CCTV in secured locations like home provide some twisty touch final sequences. Apart from that movie had nothing twitchy. The first half of the film is gently placed, but when some of revelations are made, we would soon be able to connect the points and from there movie turns monotonous. Movies biggest strength is its runtime (which is around 122 minutes). Though we have some speed breakers (Situation less Songs to establish the romantic mood), but it was convincingly overlooked.
The open ending the film is a nice thought and it has provides a decent message in end (Money poisons you when you've got it, and starves you when you haven't. There is never an ending to Evil motives). Music of the film by Nivas Prasanna is average, but songs Nuvve Nenna and Ye Sarigammo stand out from the rest. The Background Score of the film is solid and elevates the scenes and adds vastly to the tension. One of the best scores of the year. Cinematography by Dinesh Krishnan is neat and the way DOP works on night and dim light sequences adds orphic touch to the film. Art Work is good. Fights in the film are unrealistic. Editing by Leo John Paul should have been crispier. Especially the second half looks pretty flat with predictable twists. Production values of the film are fine.
Bhadram is a film that is built on a premise which is neither unique nor holds too many surprises, the usual thriller kind of aura that is built around dissimulation films is not there here. Bhadram could have been a well-made thriller if director Ramesh worked on the script and maintained a tight grip with crisp cuts. On the whole, Bhadram is the least you would have expected from the makers of Pizza, Villa & Soddhu Kavvum.
Ashok Selva,Janani Iyer,Ramesh,Rama Krishna Reddy.Fails to reach the standards