Bheemante Vazhi directed by Thamasha fame Ashraf Hamza and written by Chemban Vinod Jose (who also has a role), begins with 3 instances as to how the road comes into fruition. The first one shows Bheeman a.k.a Sanju (played by Kunchacko Boban) traveling on the aforementioned narrow road on a bike with a fellow neighbor played by Binu Pappu. Later on, the second instance occurs when a funeral takes place and they carry the body almost stumbling on the way. It's only at the third instance, the movie sells the point of the title where Bheeman's mother has a nasty fall during a rainy night and as the car is located at a different house due to the narrow road, the neighborhood gets fully drenched while moving from house to house carrying her on a chair. This scene is staged as a one-take only cinematographer Girish Gangadharan could come up with. It's only then the title credits appear, and with a quiet contemplation from the titular character after his mother laments about how that narrow road led to the delay of his late father reaching the hospital; he decides to widen the road for the community. With the help of his friend working in the municipality, Councillor Reetha, he decides to ask the residents to sell the vacant spaces at the house front in order to make way for the new road to be built. All of them accept except for one, Kostheppu who backs out at the last minute creating chaos in the process and the rest of the movie unfolds along the way.

...the women here are written in a way, they almost seem like what men would do; they drink, they casually talk about sex, and most importantly they're strong-willed career-driven people...

Bheemante Vazhi, on paper, pitches to us as a bureaucratic satire of getting a road for the community, but the tone here is surprisingly lighter than its premise tells us. Sure, the characters are colorful all around but the vibe here is more inconsequential than what it seems. Sometimes, the insignificance of certain characters or events kind of comes back in unexpected ways, you couldn't help but laugh at it. Take for instance Chemban Vinod Jose's character Maharshi; who's pretty much played as a buddy of Bheeman who also functions as a guy who retorts frankly whenever Bheeman vents about his love failures. He's written in a way, he almost comes off as a glorified cameo but the funny thing is he wrote the character himself. Dare I say it, the thought of a guy writing himself as a small inconsequential character is pretty funny when you think about it. The other glorified cameo played by Suraj Venjaramoodu, appears in two key scenes and both of them are laugh-out-loud hilarious. It's at these moments you realize that he hasn't lost his comedic roots even after starring in serious dramatic roles.

Kunchacko Boban plays Bheeman with his usual charm here but he's not the innocent romantic lead he usually played before. Here Bheeman's a bit of a flirt; he looks at women lustfully, maybe has affairs with them but is also commitment-phobic whenever someone proposes to him for marriage. Yes, the woman here asks him after sharing an intimate moment with him and while he doesn't say anything, his body language says otherwise. But with all of that said, he still comes across as a likable guy only because he respects them as people and acknowledges that they move on quicker than he does, and even at times, he's a helpful man who's willing to stand for the community even when obstacles come in his way. This is indeed one of Boban's most sophisticated characters in years and you could see how he has reinvented himself over the past decade or so. It also helps that the women here are written in a way, they almost seem like what men would do; they drink, they casually talk about sex, and most importantly they're strong-willed career-driven people. It's refreshing to see women written with a progressive mindset that even when you see an affair/old romance rekindled, you couldn't help but smile at it. Two of them, in particular, stand out; Councillor Reetha played by Divya M Nair and the Kannadiga railway manager played by Megha Thresiamma Thomas who has a short but sweet romantic arc with Boban's Bheeman.

...Writer Chemban Vinod Jose and director Ashraf Hamza just proved that they could tell stories different from what their debut works have promised us...

Some of the other characters here are quirky like Binu Pappu's character, Krishnadas who's an alcoholic auto driver, you swear you believe you're watching his late father Kuthiravattom Pappu come back to life (a similar feeling I had while watching Vineeth Srinivasan's performance in Thanneer Mathan Dinangal). Or you have Jinu Joseph's character Kostheppu who's quite possibly the showiest character of the movie. While his villainy due to personal greed and family pressure isn't well conveyed and comes off as contrived just to create unnecessary obstacles, he nonetheless has a loud personality and even displays some hilarity on the way. Also, some small characters like Chinnu Chandni's judo instructor character Anju, or Shabareesh Verma's Bekkinakannu Rajendra, an actor from the Telugu film industry playing the heavy, and so many others leave a big impact at the climax; that could leave everyone with a big smile on their face as it is the most cathartic yet unexpectedly hilarious scene of the lot. Writer Chemban Vinod Jose and director Ashraf Hamza just proved that they could tell stories different from what their debut works have promised us; the former who had written Angamaly Diaries which is a highly charged testosterone-filled action flick and the latter who had directed Thamasha, a pretty solid remake of the Kannada film, Onde Motteya Kathe can create a breezy feel-good comedy with well-rounded women and other quirky characters.