I’m curious about the thing the writers of Bloody Beggar were on, because it’s hard to believe someone sober coming up with something as wacky as this. Even if the story is not the kind of thing that you haven’t seen before, and it has the clear hangover of movies like Ready or Not and Knives Out, the execution here is something else. Did director M. Sivabalan ask his ensemble cast to go full insane on purpose? I don’t know, but it does seem like that. The crazy is what makes the film what it is. Leaving the audience with one piece of ambiguity only makes sense for a movie like Bloody Beggar, and we’re going to look into that while also touching up the plot.
Spoilers Ahead
What happens in the movie?
Bloody Beggar might call itself a comedy, but it begins in the darkest possible way when seven-year-old Siddharth is tortured and killed by his four cousins—all of whom are kids—that too on his birthday. The focus then shifts to our main character, Bloody Beggar (his name is never revealed, so I’m going to call him BB from this point on; hope that’s okay with you). He is more of a conman than a beggar as he keeps finding ways to make people give money to him. With that money he orders delicious food that he doesn’t share with his frenemy cum sidekick Jack, a boy who was abandoned by his parents and later rescued by BB. Of course, there’s a big twist here (revealed much later in the movie) that changes everything. Jack happens to be BB’s own son, a fact that he purposefully hides from the little boy. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for Jack, though, as he has made sure that the boy goes to school. BB also carries the deep wound of his wife Kani’s death inside, about which he never utters a word. Jack has no idea about all this, by the way.
A chance meeting with a bunch of people looking for beggars to feed lands BB at the huge mansion of recently deceased actor Chandrabose. The actor’s last wish was to feed twenty-five hungry souls after his death, and BB is fortunate to be one of them. After the feast, when everyone is resting on the lawn, BB sneaks into the mansion. Considering the narrative has sort of established him as an inquisitive man and also a hustler, this makes sense. Even though it seems like the house is empty at first, he soon spots this man and woman bickering among themselves (they don’t see him). He continues to hide from them while he keeps narrating what’s happening on the phone to Jack. Getting worried for BB, Jack keeps asking him to get out of the house, but he doesn’t listen. That only puts him in further trouble when he accidentally sees the woman, along with a bald fat man, stabbing the bickering man to death after a heated argument. That’s the point where the actual craziness begins in the movie, as the man who dies instantly becomes a ghost, and somehow, only BB and he can see each other. However, BB has more trouble to deal with as he fails to escape and gets caught and tied up by the woman. Ideally in a situation like this one, death is a given, but since BB is our hero, that can’t happen. The movie also justifies immunity as well. To get out of the mansion alive, BB now has to do something for the fat man, Vithagan, who’s a lawyer. Killing Hariharan (the other man who’s now a ghost) has put him and Thara (the woman) in a difficult position, as the man was part of their conniving scheme of getting Chandrabose’s huge fortune. The late actor had four children—two sons and two daughters (yes, the ones you see as kids in the very beginning)—and also an illegitimate son, Hariharan, whom he never met. But considering how terrible his children and grandchildren turned out, Chandrabose had given them a very small amount of shares and given most of his fortune to Hariharan. He obviously tasked the lawyer to make sure that happened, but sadly for him, the lawyer is a conniving piece of crap. Instead of tracking down the real Hariharan, he brought in the other man as a fake Hariharan. What he didn’t know, though, was that the man he killed was actually the real Hariharan, and throughout the movie, the ghost keeps screaming the truth. Sadly, only BB can see and hear him. Anyway, BB’s job is to now convince the four children of Chandrabose that he’s the real Hariharan and fulfilling the lawyer’s wish. That’s his only way out.
Does Bloody Beggar manage to do his job?
It’s not that simple for BB, as it turns out that his first interaction with Chandrabose’s daughter Mandakini and her son Varun is only a test, which he fails miserably by trying to tell them the truth. The lawyer is in cahoots with Mandakini, and they’re all part of the scheme. The woman, Thara, is her daughter. They’re the ones who are trying to sideline Chandrabose’s three other children and their families. However, you can’t really feel sympathy for anyone considering all of them are pretty terrible people, with Rudhran’s (Chandrabose’s elder son) daughter Vasudha being the only exception. Her brother Vikram is the kind of intolerable character whom you’d like to see horribly suffering from the very first minute. Chandrabose’s younger son, Kuberan, arrives with his wife, obese teenage son, and mistress Babyama. Kuberan and Babyama are actually planning to kill his wife by feeding her to death. The younger daughter of Chandrabose, Radha, and her husband, Suresh, are as bad as the rest. Their son, Vasan, however, is a piece of work. The guy is so obsessed with his grandfather that he chooses to live his life as various movie characters Chandrabose played. This brings a dose of lunacy into the mix, which, in my opinion, makes the viewing experience crazier.
Anyway, Kuneran, Rudhran, and Radha are really mad about Hariharan getting what (they think) they deserve, while Mandakini just wants to get it done and leave (for obvious reasons). The evil lawyer, meanwhile, realizes he can actually get more money if he includes everyone in the scheme. So he tables the idea of killing Hariharan (BB) in front of everyone so that they give him a hefty share. The real Hariharan’s ghost witnesses this and warns BB, but the lawyer tells BB that he’s only going to pretend to kill him. BB believes the bald fraud, only to realize the lawyer was lying and he’s being choked to death. Thanks to a heavy flower vase lying around, he manages to hit the lawyer in the head and get away for the time being.
Why does Vasudha help Bloody Beggar?
Chandrabose’s house is a maze, and getting out of it when at least ten people are searching for you like hounds is not at all an easy thing. There are real hounds as well, Chandrabose’s four dogs, who are ready to cause murderous mayhem if they’re released from the kennels outside. Fortunately for BB, he has Hariharan, who, despite his own fate, is trying his best to make sure that the beggar gets out. There’s also Rudhran’s daughter, Vasudha, the only person who does want to help BB. Upon hearing BB’s regret about not telling Jack that he’s his real father, Vasudha becomes determined to help him. The plan is to get BB out of the mansion and take him to the garage and then use Chandrabose’s car to get out so that the dogs, even if they’re unleashed, can’t do anything.
There are obviously many obstacles in that path, but it’s Vasan who proves to be the biggest threat. He is, after all, unpredictable as he shifts between different characters—first, a forest king with superhuman strength, then a ghost, and then a murderous young girl (at this point I was not surprised anymore). Thanks to the ghost character, Vasudha and BB (along with Hariharan’s ghost, ironically a real one) are able to get away by containing Vasan inside a holy circle. That’s only temporary, though, as the plan of transporting BB inside a safe backfires as Kuberan’s obese son traps BB in a different safe.
Before getting further into BB’s escape, let us address the other crazy things that happen at Chandrabose’s mansion around the same time. The lawyer kills Varun and hides him behind a curtain. Kuberan suddenly takes out his javelin and starts comparing himself to Niraj Chopra (again, I am not surprised by anything), and probably to prove his point, throws the javelin that gets stuck in Varun’s body. There’s the obvious confusion if Kuberan has killed Varun, which soon gets cleared as the lawyer successfully puts it on BB, effectively making our beggar a bigger threat to the idiotic family members. BB, meanwhile, tries to escape from the kid’s trap and comes face to face with Kuberan’s wife and Babyama. But now that they believe this guy is a vicious killer, they hesitate to do anything. Babyama eventually composes herself and goes to do the needful with a spear, but the jealous wife kills her instead. Kuberan arrives on the scene a minute later, and she puts the blame of the murder on BB. I feel sorry for the obese kid, really! Anyway, Vasudha rescues BB, and they finally reach the garage. But upon seeing Chandrabose’s car, BB refuses to leave.
Why does BB want to take revenge on Chandrabose’s family?
The other big reveal of this story is the reason here. Vasudha is a good person, no doubt, but she did commit a grave sin in the past. BB’s wife got killed when a car accidentally hit her, and it was Vasudha who was driving it. Kani could have been saved had Vasudha not driven away, but that didn’t happen as Vikram, Vasan, and Varun were also in that car, who kept her from helping the wounded woman. It was obviously Chandrabose’s car, and seeing the car again rages a fire inside BB. He now becomes hellbent on taking revenge. When the other family members arrive in the garage, BB beats Vikram to a pulp. They all now retreat back to the mansion, and BB goes after them, despite Hariharan repeatedly telling him to leave as he still has a son to look after. Consumed by rage, BB doesn’t listen and gets inside the house with the sole agenda of killing everyone. Unfortunately, that proves to be a wrong decision as the family members, along with the lawyer, kill him this time around. He instantly becomes a ghost and regrets his action, but nothing can be done anymore (or so it seems). With BB gone, the family gets into chilling mode, but to spoil the party, Chandrabose’s brother (we’re gonna call him Uncle, like everyone else) arrives on the scene.
Is Bloody Beggar really Siddharth?
Even though the movie doesn’t ask the question, I guess we all thought about this at some point—especially during the final ten minutes. I’m going to come to that, but let us focus on Uncle for a bit (the part is played by the same actor who plays Chandrabose, by the way). It turns out that Chandrabose has one-upped his children by appointing his brother to see if things are going alright. And Uncle has done exactly that by installing many cameras that have caught all the atrocities committed by everyone, including the bad lawyer. The day also happens to be Siddharth’s birthday, which is also the day of his death—in the hands of his wretched cousins.
After pretending to play their game for a bit, Uncle gets into full boss mode when he takes out a shotgun and blasts the lawyer to death. The family members are still outnumbering him, but he has one huge weapon: the whistle that will unleash the four dogs on them. There’s one thing Uncle feels bad about, though, which is BB’s death, as he was still an innocent person who didn’t have to die. I thought it was a bit too much for the movie to kill BB and then strangely revive him through a bit of electric shock into the water (Kuberan’s son’s doing). Unfortunately, since that also kills Uncle, it’s BB versus the terrible family again. But BB is the one who deserves the happy ending here, and it would have been wrong for the director to not give him that. So, he gets to blow the death whistle and let the dogs do the rest. We don’t get to know who lives and who dies, but I don’t think it matters.
Bloody Beggar ends with BB finally telling Jack the truth, as they celebrate Jack’s birthday. He tells her about Kani and also lets him know that he is Jack’s real father and from now on he is always going to be by his side. But when Jack asks his name, the screen purposefully goes to black. Now, even though we know about Siddharth’s death, we never saw the body. Given Siddharth was younger than his cousins, the age actually fits here. Bloody Beggar can very well be Siddharth, or he might be just a random beggar who got into this thing. I feel it’s a good decision by the director to leave us on a cliffhanger.
