The archetype of the all-sacrificing, long-suffering elder brother used to be an oft-repeated one in the Malayalam films of yesteryears. Mohanlal’s Balettan (2003) happens to be one of the extreme cases, with the character forced to bear the cross that his father handed over to him right before his death. He goes to great lengths to protect the secret, even at significant loss of face to himself.
Krishnadas Murali’s debut film Bharathanatyam riffs off (not rips off) on this peculiar situation, but it goes along an entirely different trajectory. For one, the father Bharathan (Sai Kumar), does not die and is left to rue his decision to confide a long-held secret of having another family to his son Sasi (Saiju Kurup). The director, who has also written the film, is also aware of how people will easily connect the scenario to that in Balettan .
So, to deny anyone the pleasure of pointing it out, there is one sequence where Sasi’s sister warns him “not to be too much of a Balettan!” While the film that it takes inspiration from was highly melodramatic in tone, Bharathanatyam attempts to keep the mood light and humorous even in situations which could lead to high drama. Bharathan’s revelation leads to an interesting domestic situation involving two families and even lookalikes. Parallel to this happens the drama involving a temple committee of which Sasi is a part.
A typical nosy soul in the committee suspects something amiss in the family and attempts to dig more. Bhar.