‘Boat’ movie review: Yogi Babu can’t save this boring, talky survival drama

A scene from ‘The Boat’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The inspirations behind it boatTamil’s latest historical drama ‘Dangal’ has been listed as a remake of Ernest Hemingway’s 1952 novel. the old Man and the Seaan elderly fisherman’s story of a biblical battle at sea, and Twelve Angry Menis a 1957 legal drama in which 12 jurors discuss a sensitive case in a confined space while also contemplating their own morals.

This is enough to tell you what kind of film writer-director-producer Chimduven has envisioned – a two-hour dialogue on the Bay of Bengal that touches upon social concerns of the past and explores their relevance in current times. To do this, the filmmaker has introduced ten characters, carefully chosen to represent their social identities, and cast them as a heterogeneous group of survivors who are forced to analyse their own lives, their place in the social hierarchy, and the moral codes with which they are made to work.

Through a haphazardly scripted opening scene set on a beach in Madras in 1943, we see how these characters board a fishing boat and head out into the sea in a last-ditch effort to escape the Japanese raiders. The boat becomes a microcosm of the larger society for Chimbudeven. The boat’s owner, fisherman Kumaran (Yogi Babu), and his elderly grandmother, Muthumari (Kulapuli Leela), take Lal (Chams), a Rajasthani; Narayanan (Chinni Jayandh), a Brahmin gumashta, and his daughter Lakshmi (Gauri Kishan), a Carnatic singer; and Vijaya (Madhumita), a pregnant Telugu woman, and her son, Mahesh (Akshath). Two mysterious men, Raja Muhammad (Sha Ra) and Muthaiah (MS Bhaskar), also find their way into the boat, as well as Pechiyamma, a pregnant mouse – because, in the deep sea, all lives matter equally… or don’t they?

The identity of the final member is no surprise given the pre-independence setting: we have Irwin Domas (Jesse Fox-Allen), a British navy man who takes control of the boat because, well, he’s ‘above all’. Trouble begins when they cross 12 knots into international waters when their boat is inadvertently damaged. To return to shore, the three men must cast off the ship, an existential dilemma that renders the sails motionless on the harsh ocean.

To understand Chimbudevan’s motives with such a story, it is important to analyse not just the historical accuracy of these characters, but what they talk about and how. The same is suggested in the scene in which Lal, while performing a puppet show on British history to entertain the exhausted survivors, walks away when Muthaiah points out an error.

Still, there’s more than one issue with this boat to prevent you from fully immersing yourself in its world. When Chimbudevan forcibly inserts comments on the current situation into the dialogue, rather than playing it subtly, you struggle to suspend your disbelief. The cinematography attempts to ensure that the viewer does not tire of the limited setting: for instance, kerosene lamps are used for lighting at night, and there are shots of boats and drones from underwater. However, these techniques, as interesting as they are, do little to hide the subtlety of the plot.

A scene from ‘The Boat’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

To add some tension to the weak plot, we get a silly turn of events in which it is revealed that the group also includes a wanted terrorist; how this investigation goes on makes for an even more challenging experience. There is also a great white shark that lurks around the boat and terrorises it, but this only highlights the film as a shallow survival thriller. The film barely explores the physical, mental and psychological effects of going through such an experience; even the lack of food, water or sanitation facilities is only superficially shown.

In a sea of ​​issues, some commendable ideas manage to enter, like how all social structures affect only those at the lowest rung of the hierarchy. The climax is an excuse, by then it’s too late to get yourself off this rocky boat. Amidst such haphazard writing, the film wildly throws in a surprise – a reveal that it’s part of a cinematic universe – but even that fails to cheer you up.

boat It’s extremely dialogue-heavy, made worse by the loud music that drowns out any space for silence. Chances are you’ll remember the deafening experience and cartoonish characters more than all the well-intentioned ideas put together. Chimbudevan seems to have strayed from the plot by more than 12 knots.

Boat is currently in theaters