Chathur Mukham
Introduction
And it is raining horror movies from left right and center! Over the past few weeks we covered Cold Case, Fear Street Part One and this weekend we already have covered the second part of Fear Street. But the show ain’t over yet! This weekend we had another Malayalam film Chathur Mukham which is a high concept “techno” horror, a new sub-genre to the larger umbrella of horror. But for that a small rant! If there is anyone from Zee5 who is reading this, your app isn’t functioning properly. Although the film has subtitles, I was unable to turn them on, as the option wasn’t getting activated. This is unfair for the subscribers. I eventually had to go to its site and watch the movie on the Zee5 site instead of the app, where the subtitles were available. Request you to please get it fixed. Now coming back to the review, I have just finished watching the Malayalam Film Chathur Mukham on Zee5. Is it worth your time, stay tuned.
Story & Screenplay
Chathur Mukham is the story of a supernatural force creating havoc for a woman through technology. Without revealing any more of the plot, I can safely say that this is indeed a unique concept in the horror space. While we have seen J Horror Movies like Click which are high concept ones, we haven’t had much innovation being tried in the movies made back home. Often we witness creaking doors or an old watchman or a ghost hunter in a horror film that have now been done to death with. But here, it is none of that which makes the story so fresh! The screenplay is also extremely well written particularly in the first hour. The foundation of this high concept techbno horror is laid down logically so much so that a part of me actually wanted to believe it. This just shows the intellect of the writers and makers from the Malayalam industry which is truely miles ahead of the cash rich industry from Mumbai. They genuinely want to be different and are willing to experiment even in a genre that extremely relies on cliches. The screenplay is fast paced along with a buildup which is thrilling to watch. The issue begins in the second hour with the revelation out a little sooner that I expected. Much so as I also expected a twist in the tale at the end which did not come. The end was slightly underwhelming as well, but having said that, the movie was still thrilling to witness in the second hour. Overall, a great attempt in trying to do something different.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are cerebral and quite well penned. The BGM is fabulous here and does its bit in elevating the drama. The cinematography is exceptional here, but the VFX are a suspect which you kind of expect in a mid sized film. Directors Salil V and Ranjeet Kamala Sankar have both done a fabulous job. The concept that they had at hand needed to be well executed and they did just that! Fabulous Direction!
Performances
The performances are quite good. Niranjana Anoop as Safiya and Jiss Thomas as Firoz leave a mark. Rony David as Naveen is pretty good. Alencier Ley Lopez as Clement is quite good as well. Sunny Wayn who was last seen in Sara’ is exceptional here as Antony. There is this certain earnestness to his character which is really refreshing to watch. And the star of the show is Manju Warrier who is phenomenal as Thejaswini. A very complex role that also demanded some level of physicality and she has pulled it off effortlessly.
Conclusion
Chathur Mukham is a high concept techno horror that scores heavily in most parts. Available on Zee5.