For the next review of the day, I decided to handpick a genre that is deeply underutilised. Perhaps the only genre that requires you to fully immerse yourself and not be distracted. And perhaps the genre that has the most number of clichés associated with it. Yes, that genre is horror and the flick that I watched was the 2016 Marathi movie, Lapachhapi. Does it scare the daylights out of you…lets find out!

Lapachhapi is the story of an eight month old pregnant lady who along with her husband shifts to a village in Maharashtra. What seemed like a peaceful stay turns out to be a nightmare. I haven’t revealed any bit of the story as that will act as a spoiler and no amount of my words can do justice to it, because the story is intelligent(never thought I’ll ever say this in a horror film) and tackles an important social issue. The screenplay is extremely well written and almost keeps all the cards close to its chest thereby concealing the mystery effectively. And so in the process you will notice many twists and turns! The length of the movie(under 2 hours) is just perfect. The dialogues are good. For a good horror film, you need a great BGM and here it is of the highest quality. The music just adds to the atmospherics. Director Vishal Furia has made an original Indian Horror thriller that he can really be proud of. His direction is outstanding!

Vikram Gaikwad as Tushar has his moments. Usha Naik as Tulsabai is terrific and terrifying. Her performance will slowly grow on you and make you take notice of her towering act. But the star of the show is Pooja Sawant who lives every bit of her character. Outstanding performance. In the interest of the film, I am not naming anyone else but all have done a magnificent job!

Lapachhapi is a film that relies more on the atmospherics and doesn’t have any jump scares. Also none of the clichéd elements are present here. But what you get is an intelligently woven thriller with a dash of social commentary. This movie cannot be missed. Available on Zee5 and highly recommended!

PS : The Hindi rights are sold with the same director and Nushrat Bharucha in the lead!