'Pindam' is produced by Yeshwanth Daggumati. Writer-director Saikiran Daida teams up with fellow story-writers Kavi Siddhartha and Toby Osborne. Does the film live up to its description that it is the scariest movie ever? Let's find out in our review:
Plot:
The story is set in the Suklapet of the early 1990s. Anthony (Srikanth Sriram) is a small-time clerk working in a rice mill. His wife Mary (Kushee Ravi) is pregnant. Their two children Tara and Sophie are scared every night due to eerie occurences in their newly-bought house on the outskirts. Annamma (Eswari Rao), a spiritual healer, knows the answer to their suffering and decides to save them from the haunting ghost.
Performances:
Srikanth Sriram of 'Roja Poolu' and 'Dhada' fame gets to play a largely inconsistent character in terms of screen time and impact. Before the audience can sympathize with his plight (he loses his job and has a domineering mother to deal with), the emotional impact slackens. Kushee Ravi of the Kannada film 'Dia' fame makes her Tollywood debut in the role of a demure pregnant lady. Eswari Rao plays the character with the maximum number of lines. Her role becomes more prominent in the second half in a predictable turn of events.
Srinivas Avasarala plays a researcher in the present who listens to the story of Anthony and family as narrated by Annamma. At times, he looks haughty in his demeanor even though he is conversing with some superior to him in intelligence and stature. Ravi Varma plays a patriarch living in the 1930s.
Baby Chaitra as Tara is superb. She makes us feel for her, as she looks vulnerable and helpless as a speech-impaired girl. Baby Leisha, Vijayalakshmi and Srilatha are seen in other roles.
Technical Departments:
Sathish Manoharan's cinematography is impressive for the most part. Krishna Saurabh Surampalli's music could have been less loud in some of the scenes. Editor Sirish Prasad could have done away with a few extraneous portions in the initial segment of the second half. Production Designer Vishnu Nair's work is authentic.
Merits:
1. The flashback in the 1930s. It is scary in a psychological way.
2. The inherent social messaging related to female children and women.
3. Telling the story through the eyes of Annamma, the occult practitioner.
4. The house set is naturalistic.
5. The technical elements.
6. The child Tara is placed at the centre of the plot.
Demerits:
1. Snail-paced narration. Nothing much takes place for whole stretches.
2. Lack of suspense. Once Annamma is introduced as a powerful demonologist, you can guess what the nature of the resolution is going to be like.
3. Showing the occult practitioners as underprepared.
4. Lack of excitement in terms of spooky effects.
Vox Verdict:
'Pindam' is a horror-thriller with a predictable arc. Despite its share of hackneyed ideas, it works to an extent due to a few segments where the writing and execution are effective.
Rating: 2.5/5
