Cheekatilo

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: So, another Telugu movie after quite some time in between.

Vampire Bat: There have been long gaps between movies except English and Malayalam.

Vampire Owl: I thought we had enough Hindi movies in there.

Vampire Bat: Yes, but due to some reason, these OTTs are more into series and not movies.

Vampire Owl: Any work should end in a few hours and should not be stretched.

Vampire Bat: Yes, we are forced to wait for an infinite time to have the next episode.

Vampire Owl: Keeping people waiting for so long. Absolutely ridiculous.

Vampire Bat: The wait is never worth it when we have other things do in life.

Vampire Owl: Still, the blind and dumb fans will have other ideas.

Vampire Bat: No wonder Uncle Dracula said no to any more humans turned into vampires. Dracula Castle has no place for nonsense.

[Gets a blueberry cake and three cups of Munnar tea].

What is the movie about? :: Sandhya (Sobhita Dhulipala) has been working as a journalist in one of the leading television channels in the city. She has been looking forward to report and talk about crime in the city and bring the less explored areas to light. But when the crime report which she was going to read is changed by her superior to bring a sexual and illicit relationship to the scene, she protests and submits her resignation, much to the shock of the Managing Editor and surprise of her co-workers. The intern who has been working under her, Bobby (Aditi Myakal), is still happy though, and she asks her to begin a crime podcast. Bobby finds Sandhya as a true journalist among TRP seekers and her role model in the field. Sandhya also asks Bobby to join her. But soon, Bobby is found tied up, raped and murdered while her boyfriend is also tied up and murdered in her apartment. Sandhya tries to solve this case with the help of her boyfriend Amar (Vishwadev Rachakonda) with whom her marriage has already been fixed by their parents despite him being two years younger than her.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The police inspector in charge of the investigation, Rajeev (Chaitanya Krishna) does not like her and her boyfriend trying to poke their noses right inside his case file and crime scene. But Sandhya manages to find her own clues and points to a man through his podcast, but it turns out that he was only the man who stole Bobby’s earrings, and a phone call from the killer reveals that more murders are to follow soon enough. Another police officer named Ananditha (Isha Chawla) is assigned the same case, but Sandhya is not ready to leave the case and connect it to similar rape and murders which occurred in the villages on the outskirts of the city. As she seems to connect the dots, the police officers are not that impressed, especially after her previous framing of another man, and her podcast and hashtag campaign seem to make the killer angrier. Can the police or Sandhya stop the killer in time, or will similar incidents keep happening to keep the common people in terror?

The defence of Cheekatilo :: Here is another murder investigation that works, and at no point does the movie losses its strength. The twists are there to come, and the thrills are sufficient. Along with the same, the movie remains a thoughtful critique of how society and ratings-driven television handle crimes, with focus on the need for trauma, healing and empathy for victims. The focus on the past of the serial killer is also something worth mentioning. The mood is nicely built with the atmosphere as much as an initial scene which serves a time period much earlier as it lets us know what is to expect in a classic manner, and the sound effects and music used work really well. There is no attempt to overdo anything for the fans, and maybe the release on Amazon Prime Video helped the purpose – the Hindi dubbed version which we watched could also serve the purpose well. The movie is also not that long, staying at two hours, which would be the best choice. The film actually came as a pleasant surprise, as we had not heard about its release and were looking for a new thriller movies and this one just came out of nowhere.

Positives and negatives :: The movie does seem to drag a bit with many tales and some repetitions here and there. The romance is also almost completely lost in the totality of things. We keep trying to find the love, but we get the killings, and as it is a thriller, we say that it will do for now. The red herrings work, and they remain constant reminders of the extra effort being put in here, and the predictability is lessened right there. Even though the final revelation is effective and brings the surprise really well, the motive feels too quickly explained by a very fast backstory, thus making the climax giving the feeling of being prepared in a hurry. But the same surprisingly works, and it is because the willing suspension of disbelief never really leaves us, and the flow is still there towards that surprise and the motive. There is also the feeling that there is something missing on the side of the characters, with some of them never really keeping us interested. Some of them might be responsible for making us feel deviated from the main thing here.

The performers of the soul :: Sobhita Dhulipala delivers the best performance of the movie, with a certain command over the narrative. As she plays a true-crime podcaster who gets personally entangled in a murder investigation, this one becomes all about a grounded investigation that never goes out of her control as far as acting is concerned. We have seen he in her first movie, Raman Raghav 2.0, and therefore we know that she is no stranger to psycho killers and brutal murders happening around her character with a true psychopath on the hunt and a police officer also on a grand search. Her subtle facial expressions and body language nicely brings her internal conflict into the picture, as the character also has the trauma from childhood to go beyond. She blends is as the podcaster as well as the journalist with remarkable ease. Vishwadev Rachakonda as Amar makes the lover believable, but not without those shades which work nicely in the process. Chaitanya Krishna as Rajeev makes a fine police officer. Isha Chawla as Ananditha is the other police character, and that works well too. The rest also works along nicely.

How it finishes :: The movie stands strong with its core and the thrills and twists which follow, as we have something which goes well like Memories, Dheeram, Anjaam Pathiraa, John Luther, Forensic etc with its investigation. This is almost among my favourite Telugu movies, as there is no overdose of anything here, going on a path which never tries to satisfy the blind masala fans, as we have seen in many other Telugu movies. This one goes on a fine path which we can accept without much trouble, as the balance is maintained with the investigation always leaving something for us, even in the form of interesting red herrings. As we see that this movie released on Amazon Prime Video, one can be sure about the blind fans of the theatres never really creeping in, and the same might have helped the purpose a lot. With the movie’s atmosphere and the smooth journey, it feels like a movie made in the further south, and even with some predictability and seemingly strange deviations, there is the feeling that we have watched a fine murder investigation thriller with some messages to go with it.

Release date: 23rd January 2026
Running time: 126 minutes
Directed by: Sharan Koppisetty
Starring: Sobhita Dhulipala, Vishwadev Rachakonda, Chaitanya Krishna, Esha Chawla, Jhansi, Aamani, Ravindra Vijay

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Drushyam 2

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: How many Drishyams have we watched?

Vampire Bat: I am sure that there is no count of the same being kept.

Vampire Owl: I remember watching the Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil versions of the first part and having missed the Sinhala, Telugu, Chinese and Kannada versions then. We can watch them all as second part this time.

Vampire Bat: Yes, and we are now done with the original Malayalam version of the second part.

Vampire Owl: Well, now we will have more versions of the second part too.

Vampire Bat: Yes, this version is only the beginning of another list.

Vampire Owl: Do you think that this one would be just like the original?

Vampire Bat: Well, the plot will work the same here.

Vampire Owl: Also, I see that Jeethu Joseph has directed this one too.

Vampire Bat: And we also have Meena and Esther Anil doing the exact same thing in another language. This would be a worthy remake.

[Gets some vegetable samosa and three cups of cardamom tea].

What is the movie about? :: Rambabu (Venkatesh) and Jyothi (Meena), along with their daughters Anju (Kruthika) and Anu (Esther Anil) have become richer after those earlier incidents from the first movie, as the former has now bought some land, and started a film theatre. Their neighbours make a couple who fights a lot, and the woman is a clear victim of domestic violence, with the man being a drunkard. The people in the town don’t really like them anymore, as they have become rich and influential. Due to the same, all those people around come up with gossips regarding the earlier incident leading to the death of the boy, and police continues to investigate the earlier missing case as it was something which proved to be very much humiliating for the entire police department. Rambabu has the dream of making a movie, which he wishes to be perfect, and has left aside, a certain amount of money for the same.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: It is then that a local man returns home after finishing his time in the prison, and he had seen something of special worth to the police during the night when the boy was murdered. The words of the man would have a huge role to play in how the rest of the case would unfold. Geetha Prabhakar (Nadhiya), former IG, would make a return to finally find out the truth behind her son’s disappearance, and this time she will find better allies. It is the time period when the investigation seems to be gaining more ground. There is a new police officer in charge of the case, and he won’t stop pursuing Rambabu, but not many people seems to be realizing the same. There are many traps being laid for the man and his family, and some of them seems to be very close to finding its preys. But Rambabu remains strong as ever, even as there are many twisted ways being followed here, yet it remains to be seen about how long he can stand strong and protect his family.

The defence of Drushyam 2 :: In Malayalam movie industry, sequels haven’t had that much strength, even with superstars in the lead, as the chance to go down into a mass movie is always there, and this film does threaten to do so more in Telugu, but does manage to get back its original strength. There can always be exceptions to everything though. Just like the strong predecessor which made the big impact, this movie also starts with the usual family moments, even though we know that there is something always waiting to happen. There is the mention of such possibilities, but the progress is just usual until we get into the last one hour or so, as things continue to get worse for the protagonist and family, with the same thing going further down for them to bring the danger. Even though the movie also has a twist in store in the end reminding the viewers of the first film, it does manage to maintain its novelty with different elements. This means that the difficult job has been done nicely to make the sequel work well on its own.

Positives and negatives of the movie :: The fact that this one has released in Amazon Prime surely has its own advantages and disadvantages too, and I would prefer to watch this one without the horror created by the superstar fans in the theatre, just like I did for the Malayalam version. In the theatre, it wouldn’t have been this peaceful. The action should have started much earlier though, as this is the second movie of a franchise and character establishment was done well enough in the first film itself. The pressure that the first film maintained is much less here too, as things get over quickly after the terror begins. Final few minutes should have surely been extended at the cost of cutting a little bit of those family moments in the beginning – the dialogues from the local people are also a little more than needed. As a sequel which has been adapted from an original sequel, changes could have been made, with the same director at the helm yet again. Yet, the setting seems to have been more perfect for the Malayalam version, even though the adjustments made here do work.

The performers of the soul :: Venkatesh as Rambabu continues to be the strength of the franchise as Mohanlal was in Malayalam. He could go on doing the same thing again and again in even more films which can follow in the franchise – the character has surely come across some changes from the first film, but in essence, there is not that much of a difference, and we will come to know about the same thing soon enough. The ending shows that there is something about the character that is here to stay. The veteran actor at work has no real problems in keeping the act going, just like Mohanlal had no trouble. Meena’s work here is similar to what she did well in the Malayalam version, and yet it has the differences that are demanded when the whole setting is changed to elsewhere. Esther Anil also remains the same younger daughter as she used to be in the original, with the small differences of the new environment. Kruthika plays her role well, once again reminding one of Ansiba, often doing a better job in comparison. Sampath Raj and Nadhiya remains solid in their works of negativity, reflecting their Malayalam counterparts really well. It was also nice to see Shamna Kasim around here playing a strong lawyer role.

How it finishes :: Drishyam was once the highest grossing movie of all-time as far as Malayalam film industry is concerned, and it had shown the strength in so many languages including one in Sri Lanka with Drishyam 2 also calling for remakes now. Considering this remake, it is almost the same as the original, and therefore doesn’t require much of a talk regarding such a comparison, and as the sequel, it is certainly not that great as the first one. There was always going to be something about a remake and sequel like this, and that feeling will take this one forward for many more days. Drushyam 2 is surely a thing of quality as far as entertainment is concerned, and will go on to receive the expected appreciation. A lot of people from Kerala will also be watching this film to see how it compares to the original, and they will find this to be worthy enough. With the theatres being opened, there might not be many more big movies releasing Amazon Prime Video, and one can enjoy this one for now, even though you can’t stop of the feeling of having seen all these before, and for them, this is still repetition.

Release date: 25th November 2021 (Amazon Prime Video)
Running time: 153 minutes
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Venkatesh, Meena, Esther Anil, Kruthika, Nadhiya, Naresh, Shamna Kasim, Vinay Varma, Satyam Rajesh, Shafi, Tanikella Bharani, Chammak Chandra, Thagubothu Ramesh, Annapurna, Chaitanya Krishna, Venu Tillu, Chalaki Chanti, Naidu Gopi, Bharat Behera