Gaami review: A damp, discarded bhaang to feast on this Maha Shivaratri

Before booking the tickets online, you must have gotten enticed by the looks of the Gaami trailer. Wait, Gaami has neither spiritual nor metaphysical elements that could make your Maha Shivratri worth celebrating.

Shankar (Vishwak Sen) believes he inflicted a curse that could eat him for a lifetime. His body becomes pale with a human touch. He gets expelled by a group of Aghoras before Shankar could harm them.

So, he sets off on a journey to the Himalayas to find a rare “jadibooti” (medicinal roots) to cure himself. Doctor-turned-research scholar Jahnvi (Chandini Chowdary) joins him in the risky mountain trekking.

How Shankar cures his disease forms the crux of the story.

The story opens with a fight sequence where a bunch of Aghoras play a game to send Shankar off from their circle because he suffers from a rare disease that could harm them. And you may wonder why these Aghoras, who are taking on protagonist Shankar, came straight from Cultfit.

Rather than what you have perceived from the documentaries, if you have not visited Kumbh Mela, Aghoras in Gaami have no distinct features.

Three subplots

Directed by newcomer Vidyadhar Kagita, Gaami offers a three-layered straightforward story.

The filmmaker introduces two distinct subplots in the story to add extra intrigue. One estranged family devadasi and frequent attempts from the village landlord to make Durga’s daughter a successor. The other story is of a teenage boy who is shackled in a detention camp on the India-China border.

The subplots do not explore thematic elements beyond the primary storyline. Neither do they involve the supporting characters nor contribute to the overall narrative depth.

The track of the chained teenager suffering from the cruelty of the management looks vague.

While it is established why lobotomy is performed on people, it is not concretely established why such studies are being performed on kidnapped people.

Also Read: Censor board says Vishwak Sen’s film ‘Gaami’ is only for adults

Wobbly screenplay

The film lacks the right rhythm that could heighten the drama.

Vishwak Sen’s search for the rare Himalayan medicine keeps viewers glued to the screen. However, the slow-paced screenplay may occasionally doze you off in the first half.

While trekking the Himalayan range is considered a life-risking feat for any common person, for Vishwak and Chandini, it is a timepass feat. They just go and climb without any safety gear in minus temperatures.

For 15 days, they keep on trekking to reach the Dhronagiri mountain range in Triveni without food and water. That’s Vishwak Sen and Chandini Chowdary for you!

And as Vishwak claimed, Gaami has Christopher Nolan’s style of filmmaking —there is documentary-style lighting, of course, hand-held camera work, natural settings, and real filming locations near the Himalayas.

The colour palettes of red-green colour might decrease your vision for sure.

The most intriguing sequence in the movie is the lion pouncing on the protagonist. A Lion in the Himalayas? Yes, probably it lost its path in the Gir Jungle of Gujarat and appeared in the Himalayas.

Also Read: ‘Gaami’ is unprecedented in terms of scale and story: Vishwak Sen

Performances

Gaami has a let-down performance from Vishwak Sen.

Vishwak, who impressed audiences with the boy-next-door characters, hasn’t found the right nick to get into the role as Shankar.

Chandini Chowdary, as a research scholar and journalist, gives her best.

Originality should be compromised if local filmmakers continue to ape Hollywood makers. More than what is anticipated from the background score, which imitates the Nolan style, the BGM here makes the audience dizzy.

The camera work by Vishwanath Reddy seems to be the saving grace.

Editing by Raghavendra Thirun should have been more crisp.

Verdict

This Christopher Nolan-aped story is marred by poor characterisations and more poorly-written subplots.

Gaami neither explores abstract concepts of spirituality nor does it have supernatural forces as shown in the trailer. So, better not to fall for the bait.

(Views expressed here are personal.)