Tag Archives: Anupama Parameswaran

Kishkindhapuri

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Vampire Owl: I can feel that some classic demons are going to be back.

Vampire Bat: I have never known the demons to ever leave us.

Vampire Owl: I am not talking about the shadow demons from Sector Eleven.

Vampire Bat: So, you are talking about another group of shadowy creatures.

Vampire Owl: There are enough demons with separate identities in the legends and myths of different areas.

Vampire Bat: But the question remains if they can make a good movie out of them.

Vampire Owl: Now, that would be a difficult question to answer.

Vampire Bat: It will be the best if we watch and have an understanding.

Vampire Owl: I shall always believe in horror and its different forms.

Vampire Bat: There is no true existence without horror in any realm.

[Gets a parippu vada and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: In 1989, in a remote village known as Kishkindhapuri, the owners and workers of Suvarnamaya radio station are about to leave post work after locking the doors at midnight. But soon the lights go off, and an evil spirit uses the radios and speakers to get them to the basement. The spirit kills all of them and leaves their bodies there arranged in the shape of a swastika in an inverted mode. The station is closed permanently by the villagers. They are joined by priests who sealed the building permanently using prayers and magical incantations in such a way that nobody or nothing comes in or goes out. Many years later, Raghava (Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas), his girlfriend Mythili (Anupama Parameswaran), and best friend Sumith (Sudharshan) are members of Ghost Walking Tour Company which takes tourists to locations which are believed to be haunted due to legends and myths spread related to it, and provides them with a special experience to remember for a life time.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The tours usually script the events of the entire tour, and bring the scares in an artificial manner to liven the experience. There are people who are dressed as ghosts and objects in buildings are moved using hidden levers and ropes, with some sound effects to support the experience. But for their next trip, Raghava’s boss lets the tourists choose their location, and the random selection turns out to be Suvarnamaya radio station, which is not among their usual list of locations. It seems to have been randomly added to the list without much of a thought. They have no settings ready for this place which was never chosen before. But that does not stop them as they travel all the way there. Raghava breaks the talismans which were set on the doors and they enter the place, even though the team never really has any plan this time. As the team does not believe in such evil, they had also brought the neighbourhood kid Moksha (Baby Ashvika) with them as she insists.

And what more follows here as evil continues to spread like no other? :: After the tourists begins to be really scared with some terrifying presence really being unleashed, they attempt to leave, but as they get out, finds their van burning. But the next morning, at the village, the locals warn them about the presence of the spirit which would follow and kill them. The twelve people who were in the radio station soon receive warnings about their deaths from the spirit through their radios they brought with them from the station. The spirit brutally kills three tourists, two of them on a train and the next one on a construction site, and has the deaths marked with a swastika’s inverted mirror form. Raghava investigates about the radio station, but most locals stay silent out of fear. He discovers the station was supposedly haunted by Vedavathi (Thanuja Madhurapanthula), the first and last speaker of the station who was publicly humiliated and had suicided, but feels that there is something more about her. Can he find the secret behind the actions of the spirit, and stop it before things get worse and everyone gets killed?

The defence of Kishkindhapuri :: The movie needs to be appreciated for the cinematography, sound design and production values which support the horror so well. The spooky setting with a haunted radio station looking like an ancient mansion is effectively done, creating a creepy mood that never leaves us. The film’s opening acts maintains that suspense which builds gradually, and the final twists are so well-managed. The evil feels so good and its effectiveness can never be questioned, coming together so well after those final revelations. The movie’s leads, Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas and Anupama Parameswaran, gets in nicely here, and the emotionally intense as well as scary moments. It is really nice to see Anupama getting such roles in different modes, the charm which started with Premam and was carried over to The Pet Detective. This one proves that she could be that scream queen of horror movies too. Then there is Sandy who scores as usual. The scares and tension are nicely maintained in this movie, and twists are to be enjoyed. The use of the background tale is so well layered and narrated with different versions taking control.

The claws of flaw :: The movie could have gone for unlimited horror, as the spirit here is definitely beyond control. There is also some predictability in between, and the problems seem to be just randomly solved in the end after all the terror that had come earlier. Sometimes, the makers do let the horror to remain routine, like in Bhool Bhulaiyya 3, which made no real struggle to make things better. The songs and fights do not live up to the rest, as some struggle is also there. The need to bring the commercial elements to more strength do not help the movie at all, and it is seen from the first few minutes of the hero’s entry too. These are some cases of over-writing, maybe meant for a certain kind of audience. One keeps wondering how deep the horror could have managed to get if there was some innovation or the incorporation of folktale elements like Stree could do. At times, there seems to be an effort to make this a horror comedy, but one wonders if it was really intentional or coming out of nowhere. Some more of graphics could have been used here to make the terror look special.

How it finishes :: The movie’s box-office success is not a surprise, as it has managed the whole thing so well, and it raises itself much above the other horror movies dealing with the same type of content. Kishkindhapuri is an effort to be appreciated – it gets many of the basics in horror absolutely right with the classic setting, terrifying mood, throughout scares and is supported by some appreciable lead performances. There might be flaws, but if you enjoy spooky, atmospheric thriller on a ghost with a past and don’t mind the existence of some cliches, it is surely worth a watch. Even though it is now in Amazon Prime Video in Hindi too, this feels like that experience which we missed in theatres, but we know that it would not have released in this part of the world at all. But the horror should have always had some space in the big theatres, as the terrifying experience is to be best experienced in the darkness of the best screens. With those final talks in the movie, it feels that one can have an even better experience. This is the kind of horror which could surely take the genre to new heights and we will wait for that.

Release date: 12th September 2025
Running time: 125 minutes
Directed by: Koushik Pegallapati
Starring: Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas, Anupama Parameswaran, Sandy, Sudhardhan, Tanikella Bharani, Hyper Aadi, Srikanth Iyengar, Makarand Deshpande, Prema, Sunil Reddy, Anantha Prabhu, Baby Ashvika, Srinivas Vadlamani, Thanuja Madhurapanthula, Alapati Lakshmi, Srinivas Bogireddy

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Pet Detective

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Vampire Owl: I have heard about a man named Ace Ventura being a pet detective.

Vampire Bat: He is quite a different person even from a distance.

Vampire Owl: Why do the pets even need detectives?

Vampire Bat: Don’t you know that animal lives are more important than human lives these days?

Vampire Owl: I have heard so much related to the strange love towards dogs.

Vampire Bat: Yes, so much that they abandon the dogs in the street and let them bite humans.

Vampire Owl: It is indeed some strange love.

Vampire Bat: Humans even hate each other so much. Strange people.

Vampire Owl: Have you ever met a good human in life?

Vampire Bat: Well, I do not know that many humans.

[Gets a Paneer Patty and three cups of Nuwara Eliya tea].

What is the movie about? :: Tony Jose Alula (Sharaf U Dheen) is a jobless young man who inherits his Mexico-returnee father Jose Alula’s (Renji Panicker) failing private detective agency, and in the process, also hopes to impress his childhood sweetheart Kaikeyi Menon (Anupama Parameswaran) and her disapproving strict father CKP Menon (Major Ravi) who has returned from military service. Rajath Menon (Vinay Forrt), the local police officer is also after Kaikeyi to earn her love, but she does not show that much of interest in him. Meanwhile, Tony and Kayikeyi keeps their relationship with a lot of fighting in between, but they get back to each other every time. But time keeps running out for Tony who really need to get a good job to get a chance to be married to his lady love. Tony and his loyal assistant at the detective agency, Sanoop (Joemon Jyothir) get the first big case in the form of a missing dog, which they are able to solve with relative ease due to some strange turn of events. As they get one lakh rupees from the owner who value the dog a lot, they begin to call themselves Pet Detectives, trying to solve more of similar cases.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: But there are lots of things happening in the background and everything is happening due to some grand evil schemes which have its roots in Mexico and other states of India. There is a criminal racket involved in the smuggling of some exotic aquatic species, with fish worth lakhs of rupees gone missing, and then there are little kids being kidnapped. A mafia leader from Hyderabad named Yaqat Ali (Vinayakan) has also arrived in Cochin, and has brought his own team of goons who are ready to do anything at his request. Tony is forced to take the help of his old school friend Thinkal Thomas (Shyam Mohan), but both are kidnapped along with Kaikeyi. Now, it is still to be seen about what step is to be taken for them to escape from these people who are looking out for them as they have also become entangled in this series of problems. Will the gangsters get what they want, and will the biggest crime lord of all-time come to Cochin from Mexico?

The defence of The Pet Detective :: The movie does focus on the comic side more than anything else. There is the effort to make it feel big, almost in that CID Moosa mood, with complications getting solved due to situations with a touch of humour, and the main characters are able to carry the same well on their shoulders as there is the full-fledged support of veterans. The performances here are energetic and the light feeling never really leaves the movie – the darkness never engulfs the film despite having a Mexican drug lord and gangster in the background ready to make an attack. The silly chaos mode has been activated very well too. The movie’s beginning is of top quality, and has us interested in the proceedings early. There is a certain amount of quality related to the visuals around here too. The movie’s good box-office collection reflects the response of the family audience here, as one feel that there is something for all kinds of audience, with this one being a clean entertainer. The arrival at OTT has also made sure that it will have more fans around.

The claws of flaw :: The inability to get on to the provided opportunities can be seen here. It tries to go big too, but never really reaches that level. The movie did begin with that promise which is only partially fulfilled by the end. There is a certain loss of interest which seems to have come in the middle due to the fact that there does not seem to be enough of an effort from some characters that seem to just wander along. Some characters are just everywhere, and the focus is never really one the right place during times. There are moments which could have been so much funnier, but the movie holds back at times, and keeps on adding complications, but the funny side does not get added there. The ending also feels a little bit too rushed and the final running around in confusion feels amateurish. The ending seems to have been forced to add a happy finish, and one would wonder if it could have just finished normally.

The performers of the soul :: Sharaf U Dheen has already displayed the strength to carry this type of movies on his shoulders, from that antagonist in Anjaam Pathiraa to the horror comedy combination in Hello Mummy. This time, when dealing with action comedy, he shows the skill to carry the whole thing mostly in his own style which works. Anupama Parameswaran makes her way here nicely, even though one would have felt that she deserved more, from how she began here. Vijayaraghavan carries the side of humour so well, and leads to the twists nicely. Shyam Mohan’s avatar keeps us interested as he did in Premalu. Vinayakan handles the negative role with a touch of humour without any difficulty. Vinay Forrt does well, but required more to his particular character here. Joemon Jyothir’s comic side works nicely and adds to the overall humour. Nishant Sagar also adds nicely to the fun while Bhagath Manuel and Jinu Joseph could have had bigger roles to play in here over these contributions.

How it finishes :: The Pet Detective seems to be aimed at heights, but that much is never reached despite opportunities being presented. Just a few months earlier Sahasam had achieved what the chaos comedy thrillers had dreamed of, and the chaos comedy was always best done through movies like Adi Kapyare Koottamani and Kunjiramayanam. If one is still in the mood for some light comedy without using that much of brains, this one provides an energetic and engaging journey, with never going down with its pace. But looking for believable plots, strong story-telling and memorable moments would not be the right choice to here as you need to enjoy the fun and move away, with no questions asked. After all, these kinds of movies are also the need of the times, for not everyone needs the most powerful investigation thrillers with twists that bends the mind to find a terrifying serial killer – for them, there are always movies like John Luther, Anjaam Pathiraa, Forensic, Paappan, Abraham Ozler, Anveshippin Kandethum and others.

Release date: 16th October 2025
Running time: 116 minutes
Directed by: Praneesh Vijayan
Starring: Sharaf U Dheen, Anupama Parameswaran, Vinayakan, Vinay Forrt, Shyam Mohan, Joemon Jyothir, Bhagath Manuel, Renji Panicker, Shobi Thilakan, Nishanth Sagar, P P Kunhikrishnan, Praseetha Menon, Sanju Madhu, Jai Vishnu, Jinu Joseph, Major Ravi, Amey Wagh, Maala Parvathi, Nileen Sandra, Prasanth Madhavan, Sonam Singh

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Jomonte Suvisheshangal

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jomontesuviseshangal

What is the movie about? :: Jomon (Dulquer Salmaan) is the youngest son of a very rich businessman named Vincent (Mukesh) who hails from the city of Thrissur. The big family is Vincent’s other success story along with his huge business empire and assets – it includes Laly (Muthumani), Alphonse (Vinu Mohan) and Jessy (Rasna Pavithran) as well as their spouses who are all successful people in life, along with Jomon who is considered as the son who is born to spoil the name of the family along with all the money that he keeps squandering. He successfully continues the procedure, as he finishes the trouble-making with a sentence that ends with “still I love you” to his father. There is no shortage of people who think that he is good for nothing though, as he even misses his sister Jessy’s wedding function after he meets his old friend Mushtaq (Jacob Gregory) and spends time at a bar with him at Coimbatore, ending up in the police station.

Where are things heading for? :: It is during these times that Jomon falls in love with Catherine (Anupama Parameswaran) which changes the attitude of his family members towards him, as she is from one of the richest families around, and her parents have business established in various parts of the Middle East. They get really close until one day, Vincent miscalculates one of his business deals, and has his biggest failure in life. Everyone blames Vincent for the terrible decision he made, but Jomon doesn’t. He stands with his father, and hopes to reclaim at least most of what was lost. For the same, he relocates with Vincent to Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, and meets Vydehi (Aishwarya Rajesh) who helps him and vice versa. It was easy to go forward in the early stages, and now the question remains about how he can get his father to return to his lost glory, as that world is miles away.

The defence of Jomonte Suvisheshangal :: Without much of a surprise, Dulquer Salmaan leads the way as the protagonist, on whom this movie is based right from the title itself – there are messages about family, and there is some motivation to go through it; even as there is not that much visible. There is also some comedy, and the emotional side remains strong in this one, especially around Dulquer and Mukesh. Even with the smaller roles, Indu Thampi and Rasna Pavithran from Oozham get their moments too, even more than the bigger names in the cast. This will work even better for you if you haven’t watched Jacobinte Swargarajyam which has the same theme. The one bigger positive in this movie’s messages is that this one tells the audience to save more while the movie from last year was asking to earn more – it was more reclaiming the glory that was lost, while this one builds another one, something that is different from what was gone. It is also a long way ahead of the disappointing Kali, but is nowhere near that beautiful divergent dream which was Charlie.

Claws of flaw :: There is absolutely no attempt to bring anything new with Jomonte Suvisheshangal, and there is no trying to make things less predictable throughout its run. They have also wasted Anupama Parameswaran in a role which was rather not needed – well, in another Malayalam movie, she gets less time on the screen after the hero sees her inside a church; Premam and now this. Aishwarya Rajesh, despite suiting the character she played, works less as a pair to Dulquer. Another sad thing is that there isn’t enough of a funny side provided for Jacob Gregory’s character, even when there was so much chance, for he is to Dulquer, what Aju Varghese has been to Nivin Pauly. The songs are not that good, even though “Nokki nokki” is something that will do well without being related to the overall progress of the movie. There is also that level that we expect from Sathyan Anthikad, which is not there – that won’t be considered the right thing.

Soul exploration :: The idea of the prodigal son continues here, as the money laundering son comes back to his father – well, he even saves the day. It is not something that we have missed; this is something that a hero would do in a movie without fail. A rather inexperienced son becoming all responsible to help his father when his business faces a crisis, isn’t really a new thing even for the newer team of movie watchers, as we had witnessed the same in the last year’s Nivin Pauly starrer, Jacobinte Swargagrajyam. With Dulquer Salmaan replacing Nivin Pauly, we have a similar tale here; it is Mukesh who replaces Renji Panicker too. But considering both movies as the same will be doing injustice, and we can only consider them to be similar as we look at how things have been proceeding. This thought is something which is often related to real-life incidents, and so Jomonte Suvisheshangal surely has the right to take it as much as any other flick.

Further soul exploration :: Those who have watched both movies won’t find it easy to stop these comparisons coming into their minds. In a movie in which Dulquer once again leaves his home, but this time with his father, one can safely say that the success of this movie does belong to him, as most of the time, it is him or Mukesh that holds the movie together. This one could have actually worked well with its songs and visuals as Jacobinte Swargarajyam did though. As far as similarities and differences are concerned, we have two businessmen whose sons get responsible all of a sudden, one at Dubai and the other at Thrissur, both families Christian, one Orthodox and the other Catholic, both the families having four children, with a more evenly matched gender count here without a mother, the Mercedes Benz being there in both cases – there is also at least one heroine who has less to do in both movies; well, everything ends well too with the handsome son doing the heroics helped by one stranger who gets impressed, whether it is Vineeth Srinivasan or a European lady.

How it finishes :: Being the first movie to release after the theatre strike, Jomonte Suvisheshangal surely had the advantage, and no wonder there were so many people wishing to watch this one on the big screen. Having one day advantage over Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol, this one certainly managed to begin well, and also continues to attract the crowds. With a simple story that will appeal to the family audience, both these movies have managed to make sure that things are going on well for Malayalam cinema, even as there was a break after Pulimurugan created that record of 150 crores – well, that one is still running, as you will notice. With no element of boredom, Jomonte Suvisheshangal is also certain to bring some fine moments for the audience. As Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol is also doing well, we can expect the theatres to be full with Ezra, Georgettan’s Pooram and Fukri getting ready for release.

Release date: 19th January 2017
Running time: 158 minutes
Directed by: Sathyan Anthikad
Starring: Dulquer Salmaan, Anupama Parameswaran, Mukesh, Jacob Gregory, Aishwarya Rajesh, Innocent, Irshad, Muthumani, Manobala, Rasna Pavithran, Vinu Mohan, Shivaji Guruvayoor, Vinod Kedamangalam, Indu Thampi

jomontesuvisheshangal

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.