<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Manu Warrier. Starring Arjun Mathur, Sugandha Garg, Mohan Kapoor, Nandini Sen, Sharath Parvathavani, Ishwari Bose-Bhattacharya

Why does Arjun Mathur always end up in these over-emotional, brooding roles that are so utterly boring?

Coffee Bloom’s central character Dev (Arjun Mathur) has had a tumultuous life. His relationship with Anika (Sugandha Garg) ended with him taking poison in Romeo & Juliette style but she didn’t partake. Cut to lots of angst later and he’s sold off the family coffee plantation in Coorg, has disappointed his ailing mother who then dies leaving him with a guilty conscience and he has no direction for his life. Dev seeks advice from a ‘priest’ who tells him to do what his mother would want before deciding to become a sanyaasi.

So he goes off to Coorg and returns to his family plantation now owned by the jovial Srinivas (Mohan Kapoor) and his wife Anika, yes, Dev’s ex girlfriend. They don’t know it was his plot of land and ask him for help in saving their coffee bloom so Srinivas can start a successful chain of coffee shops. What follows is some dreadfully boring stuff with Dev and Anika getting closer and then backing off, fighting and kissing and generally saying silly things that cause some unintentional laughter.

The director visited plantations in Coorg apparently and has talked about how the owners there have strong connections to their ancestral land. This isn’t something that comes through in the film though. It’s sort of about revenge but you without any of the joy involved in the act.

Arjun Mathur’s brooding and dull dialogue delivery make his performance extremely grating at times. We saw him in similar form in the lacklustre Fireflies.

Mohan Kapoor’s ham acting at least lends a bit of vim to the proceedings. The other interesting character Shondha (Ishwari Bose-Bhattacharya) as Dev’s friend is overlooked.

Dev keeps listening to an audiotape by some guru disseminating his philosophy on life that plays as a voiceover at points in the film. It’s all too contrived.

Why some of our Indie filmmakers are obsessed with extremely serious and dull subjects like this I cannot understand.