Movie Review: ‘Kashmora’ is Your Great Deepavali Horror-Masala Fix

From cheap visual effects, ghosts and scares that you already know are coming, this Tamil potboiler has it all.

Kashmora is the Tamil Diwali horror-masala flick to see, this weekend. Yes, ‘horror masala’ is a genre. (Photo Courtesy: YouTube / Think Music India)

The 1984 classic Kutti Saththan (Dubbed into Hindi as Chhota Chetan, in '98) was the first Indian 3D film. It was about a ghost that takes the form of a little boy, and befriends a bunch of kids.

Kashmora is less scarier than this. But that’s not really a bad thing.

But what is really awesome about Kashmora is that the first 10 minutes or so is completely unpredictable. I was miffed at the timing of the hero-intro song and thought it was really unnecessary. Until, it revealed a couple of plot details that made the audience go wow, and then got them all LOLing.

The mood and expectations were set beautifully, and successfully.

It's Alive!

A still from the film. (@vijay_jeba/Twitter)

Despite already being abused (two of the four Diwali releases are ghost stories), I believe there is a lot to this genre that is as yet untapped. And director Gokul's ability to keep the audience laughing and glued to the seats for two hours and forty minutes, is proof of this.

The ghosts are only part of the narrative. The movie banks on the hero Karthi and his antics. While the movie is quite predictable, I’ll avoid spoilers, since it’s worth a watch, if you’re planning to go this weekend.

It's Not a Ghost Flick, but It's Got Ghosts

Basically, the genre works, much like the superhero franchises of the West, where the improbability of superpowers and tight suits are washed away in the realism of the characters’ ‘everyday’ problems. While it was the socio-psychological dynamics of the team that makes a movie like The Avengers work, Kashmora effectively tells the story of the power of faith, in swaying the masses, and duping them into shelling out money. Ghosts exist, and so do charlatans who thrive on misplaced trust. Simply put, Kashmora is not a ghost movie, but a movie with ghosts in it.

Jug-Jug Jio Nayanthara!

(Photo: @cinemapayyan/Twitter)

There is something about Nayanthara that makes her look awesome-er as she ages. She carries off the Princess/Goddess look like she was born for it. This isn't about her body, but the way she wields it. I have only seen Ramya Krishnan (Ammoru, 1995) and Anushka (Arundhathi, 2009) carry it off convincingly. The bad camera-work notwithstanding, she looks straight through the camera at you, and you can all but shiver and shift uneasily in your seat. I do hope there’s a great script with her in the centre, and a director who sees her for the actress she is.

Bad Songs, Good Music

There are four songs in the movie, and none of them come to mind instantly. What truly stands out though is the background score, which is bang on, both for the present day Karthi, and for the bald one, whose story is set a few centuries ago. Santhosh Narayanan's understanding of a ragam and its use in generating mood is understated brilliance. Since it's more about Karthi and his comic timing, Kashmora is a must-watch Deepavali movie, not a Diwali movie. Get it?