ROMANCHAM Review - Stressbuster!

Ashwin Ram 

Romancham is a horror-comedy starring Soubin Shahir and a bunch of unknown artists. The film is directed by debutant Jithu Madhavan.

Premise

Soubin Shahir and a group of bachelors are so bored in life and seek entertainment. They try to communicate with ghosts through an Ouija board. One night, a spirit named Anamika shows up, and the game heats up.

Writing/ Direction

Amidst the zillion formulaic horror-comedy genre films, this comes as a breath of fresh air. The way of approach is so natural and it is sure to connect easily with the youngsters. The film carries the horror element in a simple way and that’s what makes it believable. The writing is new-age, comedies click throughout and plenty are in the clap-worthy level. Serious situations are handled innovatively with hilarious humour dialogues and laugh-out-loud reactions from the gang. The movie is crackling from start to finish, although the characters are not greatly penned, somehow the director has set the film in a way that everybody contributes immensely in their given space. Not that the film is flawless, the fun factor rubs off the existing issues. There are places in the first half we get to be confused on where the story is leading to. And there is a huge why factor going on with respect to the sudden arrival of Arjun Ashokan’s role until the big reveal. The finish mark is so quick and kind of random, nevertheless the lead to the second part is terrific, hopefully the justifications would be satisfying.

Performances

Another feather in the cap in Soubin Shahir’s career, the natural performer casually hits it out of the park. But Arjun Ashokan is the show-stealer, he tremendously holds the second half by his insane act. Chemban Vinod Jose appears for one scene and it is the film’s best, the man owned what was intended. The rest of the cast are all new faces, I must say the unknown artists have performed brilliantly, everyone is tailor-made for their crazy roles.

Technicalities

The montage songs drive the film well and the music is good too. Background score is seamless, elevates the tensed moments and the pole-opposite funny sequences neatly. The finesse is very much there in cinematography and editing, adds value to the experience and helps the film to achieve technical fulfillment.

Bottomline

Not an error-free film as the closure is missing. Yet a laugh riot in which the tried and tested horror-comedy genre is refreshingly presented. No needless exaggerations and most of the jokes work to a great extent.

Rating - 3.25/ 5