Virupaksha (2023)

Virupaksha (2023)

Story and Direction: Karthik Dandu
Screenplay: Sukumar
Starring: Sai Dharam Tej, Samyuktha Menon

I really enjoyed this film - it transports you into the world right away - and it uses mystery and horror to sustain tension and I feel like that's even more scary because there's the fear of the unknown. Usually in films where there are superstitious beliefs, we as the audience tend to not take them seriously because we assume a higher ground of rationale. But this film beautifully tricks us into buying the superstitions by scaring us whenever characters break free. I was surprised when I found myself rooting for characters to stick to them because that's what's the horror and mystery did to me. The theatre I watched the film in, the sound was too loud and even annoying in portions which is why even the jump scares felt like a bit of a cheat and there was frequent shrieks by characters almost forcing me to close my ears. But apart from this one thing, the way the mystery was building up step by step till the point of interval was amazing. The reveal that happens in the interval was a nice Sukumar-esque piecing things together. One more thing I felt a little dicey about what was how Surya keeps grabbing Nandini's hands forcibly, repeatedly. That gesture just made me tad bit uncomforable, but otherwise I love how their love story was also organically woven into the main plot. 

Spoilers Alert here on. While I enjoyed the twist that Nandini was also behind this, it felt like a bit of a convenient detail to add in the ending. Because the hints that they planted that it could be Nandini were too much of a far shot. Having said that, I definitely enjoyed the twist. I just wish there was more set up to pay this off. And after the reveal was done, the film was practically over for me - but there was a lot of shrieking and yelling and a lot of noise. I wish the film concluded the finale in a simpler way after the reveal was done. But yes, after having watched the film - the images and sounds from the world are still resounding in my head and I'm happy that a film in this tone and space is made in a mainstream way without losing its essence.