Priyamani's Charulatha Review

PUBLISHED DATE : 21/Sep/2012

Priyamani's Charulatha Review

Priyamani's Charulatha Review

By Raven


Yet another assistant director has turned into a director with Charulatha. Pon Kumaran, a former associate to Bhagyaraj and K S Ravikumar, has remade the Thai horror film 'Alone' in his debut venture. The film is a scene by scene adaptation of 'Alone' except for the climax. There are few commercial elements added for the Tamil audience. 

 

The Plot


The story revolves around conjoined twins Charu and Latha (both characters played by Priyamani). Everything goes haywire when one of them falls in love with Ravi (Skanda). When one of the twins dies, she wants to take revenge on the other. You will be in for more twists and turns towards the end.

Performances


Women-centric films are very rare in Tamil. Priyamani has got one such film to prove her skills. It would have demanded a lot of hard work from her to skillfully portray both the characters. She is convincing in most scenes and has emoted well towards the climax. Skanda has limited scope and has performed reasonably well. Supporting actors Saranya Ponvannan and Seetha are good in their roles. The little kid and Aarthi who play maids in their house are too loud and annoying. 


Technicalities


Music director is very important for any horror film. More than the visuals, the eerie sounds would give a horrifying experience to the audience. But, Sundar C Babu's music is not something to rave about. Songs definitely act as speed breakers and background score is just passable.

 

Cinematography by Panneer Selvam is too shaky at times and might not please your eyes. Editing by Donmax is good as the film does not drag too much and run-time is only a little over 2 hours. Credits should be given to the CG department which has done a good job in showing the conjoined twins together convincingly.


Director


One might feel that Pon Kumaran has tried too much to stick to the original version. There are few heartwarming sequences like the one in which both the twins play the violin together. But, the commercial elements like comedy sequences and songs dilute the horror experience. The film might have been better with the original climax. The change in the climax from the original version lets down the characterization and makes the ending look cliched.

 

Bottomline


On the whole, Charulatha is an average show and is not spooky enough.

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