Chaarulatha

My review: Chaarulatha

"Chaarulatha" is horror movie directed by Pon Kumaran adapted from a Thai horror movie "Alone". One should appreciate the honesty of the makers in this era of shameless blatant plagiarism without giving any credit to the original makers. Worse is such movies are representing India in International film festivals & one is even sent as the official entry from India for Oscars !

"Charulatha " is a story of conjoint twins who get surgically separated by circumstances followed by deceit , betrayal & revenge. Story is an interesting one but the screenplay is poor with none of the characters etched well enough to create any impact in the viewers. Neither of the twins' characters are developed enough for viewers to either empathize with Charu or hate Latha. In the end Hero goes through the same dilemma & helps in movie ending with a convenient climax.

Though touted to be a horror  movie except for one or two occasions there are not that many scary scenes. Almost every scary scene is easily assumable with some quirky camera movement , dim lighting & anticipatory background score. No surprise frills or thrills on offer. So called comedy track falls flat. There are couple of songs neither that good. In the end all that one gets is a two hour of boring movie which tests one's patience.

Priyamani is good in parts. Her portrayal of Latha is very artificial ,partly the blame has to go to the director for poor characterization. She is however good as Charu. Skanda is passable while Saranya is wasted. Seetha is adequate.

Sundar C. Babu's background score  is not that supportive in enhancing the horror sequences while his songs are below average.  M.V.Paneerselvam is the cinematographer , he has done a decent job.

Bottomline : "Chaarulatha" neither thrills nor scares only bores .

2/5