Horror thrillers with a touch of suspense seem to be the new formula for Tollywood lately. Srikanth Sriram who is well known to the Telugu audience for his entertainers and action films has tried horror for the first time. He arrived with ‘Pindam’ which created a lot of interest. The promotional content generated good buzz on this film written and directed by Saikiran Daida. Let us see how this film turned out by diving into the review right away.

Story:

A Christian family of Anthony (Sriram), his wife Mary (Kushee) and children Sophie and Tara along with their grandmother travel to Suklapet as Anthony gets a job in a rice mill. With Mary being pregnant, Anthony is looking after everyone. After a few strange incidents in the new house, Tara gets possessed by a ghost and harms herself. Scared by this, Anthony calls Annamma (Eeshwari Rao), an exorcist to find out the reason for all these happenings and to come up with a solution. What happens after that forms the crux of the film.

Analysis: Horror thrillers may not need a lot of budget to be made but they need very capable writing in order to impress the audience. This genre majorly depends on thrills and chills in the right amount to keep the audience glued to their scenes. The execution needs to be almost perfect as the thriller factor gets spoiled quite easily if the taking fails to hit the mark. ‘Pindam’ is a film that created interest among the viewers with its promotional content. This horror drama manages to impress you in parts and the makers were partly in successful in what they tried to deliver.

‘Pindam’ gets off to a very interesting start and the opening itself draws your attention. The characters are introduced in a decent manner and we have an eerie feeling as we expect something might happen soon. But the first half moves at a snail pace and the dull proceedings play the spoilsport. The scenes in the house and the possessed scenes offer nothing new and we expect the horror scenes a mile away. A few portions even remind us of films that we have watched before. But the drama gets built up which leads to a lot of questions. The twists and thrills don’t excite you and the interval sequence should have been executed in a better manner.

But the film gets better in the second half. The performances of the actors lift ‘Pindam’ to a certain extent and the emotional scenes are where the movie really impresses the audience. The flashback portions work out as well despite being predictable. As we know, backstory needs to be strong in horror films in order to connect with the audience and ‘Pindam’ manages to do that. But a lot of threads that were built impressively get bogged down by flat conclusions. Also, there are not many scares in the movie as the trailer promised a lot of them. While the first half moves on a dull note and tests the patience to a certain extent, the graph of the movie rises in the second half. A few scares, good performances, a decent flashback and emotions work in favour of this film which would otherwise prove to be a subpar film.

Performances:

It is quite interesting to see Sriram in such a film. He delivers the regular acting we see in horror films with ease. His expressions showing fear and worry are quite convincing. His character is quite passive throughout the first half but he gets a chance to display his emotional performance in a few portions of the second half. He does what’s required of him and nothing extraordinary.

Kushee Ravi is fine as a pregnant woman. He had a full-fledged role but she did not get any scenes to prove her acting capability. The actors who played the kids’ roles were great and they pulled off the possessed scenes quite well. Eeshwari Rao brings a lot of depth and her look was well designed. Her acting elevated a few scenes. Avasarala Srinivas had a brief role and he was fine. The rest of the actors were just okay.

Technicians:

Technical support is very important for such films. The music gives an eerie feeling right from the beginning and makes sure that the audiences get hooked instantly. The background music is decent throughout the film and gives the necessary impact. The sound effects are a bit scary in some places. The songs are completely forgettable.

The visuals are good and the lighting is well done since most of the film happens indoors. The moody visuals and mystic mood definitely helped the proceedings. The editing should have been better as the film feels a bit dragged in some places. The CG effects are quite normal. The writer-director Saikiran Daida started off the film quite well but the film fizzles out by the end. His narration lacked pace and the scares were inadequate. He managed to extract good performances from the actors and handled the emotional scenes capably too.

Verdict: ‘Pindam’ – An OK Horror Flick With Predictability!