Not entirely Bohemian, not very Rhapsodic

Freddie Mercury’s music was rich, nuanced, empathetic. They had highs, lows, isolations and to that extent, reflected who he was as an artist. This enabled a lot of his fans across multiple generations to find meaning in his music, well past the generation to which he belonged. Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie that has been touted as his biopic shared none of the characteristics that belong to the man himself.

I may be the only person right now who did not like Bohemian Rhapsody. I just did not. Well thats not entirely true. I liked parts of it. Those parts were all one hundred percent Freddie Mercury and nothing to do with the new content.

And I have been apprehensive about telling anyone around me about this, given how passionate everyone seems to be about this film, so here I am.

So why am I being such a killjoy? Let’s see. The script was terrible, there was no story-telling to say the least, and aside from Rami Malek/ Freddie Mercury’s character, every one else was just baffoon-ing around.

The script followed the basic formula of one scene - one song format. About a quarter way into the movie, I started second guessing what song was going to come up basis the scene that went before it. It was almost as if the makers of the movie got together and said, let’s see, so what were the 9-10 key songs that we need to cover and what are incidences from Freddie’s life that could go with them?

The case in point for the shoddy character development for everyone: the introductory scene to Freddie’s father. Like who has that kind of a conversation with their wayward sons?? He does not approve of his son going out at night, so…. good deeds, good action, good thoughts????? Really???? I started cringing then on and remained cringed until the end since most dialogues were cliche and predictable.

The non-Freddie members' contribution, too has been drastically played down. Roger and John come across as jokers who somehow get their act together when the song starts. The heart breaking bit truly has to be about Brian May. All he does is oscillates between parenting Freddie and being the Yes-man and does not seem to have much of a musical talent of his own. In reality all of this is way too far from the truth.

The narrative, too, was jumpy - they wanted to cover a few songs and a few scenes and situations, so the movie jumped form scene to scene, each portraying a different situation, checking in all the check boxes and not exploring anything in particular: Freddie Mercury’s troubled relationships with his parents, his friends, lovers, his musical process, his own understanding of his sexuality, his coming to terms with AIDS and I could go on.

Rami Malek did a marvellous job in becoming Freddie Mercury. I only wish he had more meat to sink his teeth into. Freddie mercury comes across as a tantrum throwing child with limited understanding on human frailties, when his music stands testimony to otherwise.

There was way way more to the man and his story and one does not come out of the theatre richer for the experience of having viewed this film.