Had it been as judicious in the selection of its fundamental plot line as it had been in the choice of its design, ‘Honey Bee 2.5’ could have worked wonders. As such, it remains a film that never fully explores the limits of its own absurdness and instead makes do with a crackpot try-out that leaves an underdone taste in your mouth.
Its seen time and again that some astonishingly innovative ideas on paper translate to anything but astounding on screen. ‘Honey Bee 2.5’ is the most recent addition to this list of films that must have started off with some real awesome intentions but which in the end develops into a gauche piece, severely constrained by the limitations in technique.
Askar Ali plays Vishnu in ‘Honey Bee 2.5’, a movie star aspirant, who drops by on the shooting sets of Lal Jr’s ‘Honey Bee 2’, hoping to grab a role that would launch him to stardom. Not one who seems to get his act right, Vishnu finds the going real tough and stumbles upon one mishap after the other that pretty much makes his future in acting appear bleak.
It’s surprising that an idea as this is planted on the sets of a calamity of a film as ‘Honey Bee 2’ which in itself was a sequel that had very little to be keyed up about. This predicament however turns out to be this film’s gain and detriment at once; damaging in the sense that a lot of the self-conscious air from ‘Honey Bee 2’ blows over into this film as well, and beneficial in that it strikes a contrast with ‘Honey Bee 2’ and surprisingly comes up trumps, as paradoxical as it might sound.
There is no doubt that the meta-movie design is what makes ‘Honey Bee 2.5’ appealing, and the blurring of the fence between reality and fiction, is what endows it with some likeable moments. The cast and crew of ‘Honey Bee 2’ – Lal Jr, Asif Ali, Bhavana, Balu Varghese, Baburaj and a whole lot of other actors – affably play along, and the results are intermittently engaging.
But the film as such gets stuck in a rut, with a basic story line that talks of individual struggle and which is buried under a heap of truisms. The characters too, in Vishnu’s tale are stereotypes that robustly conform to the genre expectations, and thereby never daring to wander over to adventurous terrains.
The comic elements in the film also stumble big time, and so does the romantic thread that is drawn across. Thus, beyond the initial attention that ‘Honey Bee 2.5’ garners, the plot-line grows increasingly frail, as Vishnu tumbles on desperately trying to leave a mark.
The almost distinctive point of view that strikes you as ingenious, is soon replaced by a banal story of personal turmoil that is ever so rarely peppered with sparse humour. Director Shaiju Anthikkad clearly means well, but lets his film end up as a forgettable endeavour, with some dry writing that washes all his efforts down the drain.
Askar Ali has the looks without doubt, but it’s Lijamol who delivers yet another winner, with a very real and raw performance. The actors who play themselves seem to be just having a ball, and they are all credibly good. There is nothing earth shattering or magical, when it comes to the technicalities.
Had it been as judicious in the selection of its fundamental plot line as it had been in the choice of its design, ‘Honey Bee 2.5’ could have worked wonders. As such, it remains a film that never fully explores the limits of its own absurdness and instead makes do with a crackpot try-out that leaves an underdone taste in your mouth.
Verdict: Average