Bhairavam

There are no hard and fast rules for remaking a successful film in another language. Yet, a director would do well to remember why a story is being retold for a new audience, even while not aiming to better the original. Bhairavam, the Telugu remake of Soori’s Tamil film Garudan, aimlessly rehashes a hit formula, making little effort to decode the merits of the original. In a vain attempt to lend socio-political relevance to a story about the looting of temple wealth, Bhairavam begins with a disclaimer on the need to safeguard our temples and dharma from falling into the wrong hands, even throwing in a passing reference to the Mughal era. The rural drama, at its core, is a straightforward tale of a crooked politician exploiting the rift among three friends for personal gain.