Building an aura of power and dread around someone is often more about what the person does not do, than what he or she does, despite having all the ability to do it. In Bheeshmaparvam, the protagonist Michael (Mammootty), a local don, does not do much. He fights on his own only twice in the film, which are the few times he even gets outside of his home. Yet at no point do we get a sense that this is someone incapable of hitting back, even at a point when he is physically incapable of doing what he ought to do.
Here, director Amal Neerad blends the trademark style he introduced in Big B with the ever-familiar mafia don story, right from Godfather to Nayakan. The opening scene gives one a quick overview of what is to follow. The entire extended family of the rich household has gathered for a celebration. Michael is upstairs listening to the woes of a woman whose son has just been murdered in a case of honour killing. Writ large on the faces of the relatives gathered downstairs are myriad emotions, from respect to envy and displeasure, in what are clues to the kind of equation they all share with Michael.
