CHARULATHA – REVIEW
Director Pon Kumaran got the remake rights of the Thai horror film Alone and has made it in the four southern languages as Charulatha. It is a super natural thriller with conjoined twins in the lead who fall for the same man!
It turns out to be a watered down Indian remake which is neither spooky nor entertaining. The film has all the usual shock elements associated with a horror film- creaking doors, ghost image and messages on the mirror, ghost attack in the bathtub, tantric and his tantrums and final fire in the climax.
The story is told in the back and forth flashback mode. Charu and Latha (Priyamani in double role) are conjoined twins who fall for the same man Ravi Skanda), who actually only loves Charu.
It results in sibling rivalry which leads to an operation to separate the Siamese twins, and only one of them survive. The dead sister soon starts haunting her rival, and Ravi gets confused leading to the twist in the climax.
The highlight of the film is Priyamani’s performance as the Siamese twins. She towers over a poor script and is first class as the dominating and aggressive Latha and the soft spoken Charu. Her voice modulation and body language for the two sisters is perfect. The comedy track of Aarathi and Manjunath is irritating. Music of Sundar C Babu is big let-down.
The saving grace of the film is Priyamani’s twin role as otherwise the script and presentation is shoddy. There is more comedy elements thrust into the film than the essentials of a horror film.
