Kumari

An amazing concept, but fails to impress in execution.

First 15 minutes of the movie, I was very hopefull that this is going to be a nice movie. The concept of the folklore story was very exciting. The movie nicely establishes the plot but failed to emotionaly invest me in the story. The visuals were amazing. The cinematography by Abraham joseph was a big positive. Aishwarya lakshmi was good. The songs were nice, especially the one introducing kumaris character. Amazing set designs. The technical department did a great job. All the actors who came as extras did a good job.

As a fantasy movie, the movie fails to set the rules in the world. So feels pretty inconsistent in most parts. Shine tom chakos character did not work for me (his sound modulation didnot work either). Could have focused on writing a little more.

Good effort, nice concept, but misses the mark somewhere.

A decent attempt to make Tummbad in a traditional Kerala household setting, which unfortunately ended up becoming a cheap replica of the original, with a few redeeming qualities.

The visuals were enchanting but anyone who has seen Tummbad can make the connection within the opening act (my 5 yr old daughter could spot it by then.)

Shine Tom and Aishwarya were majestic but the Demigods were reminiscent of the 80's Hollywood creature-flick atrocities, which kind of made the final few shots unpalatable.

The movie has taken inspiration from a variety of sources but managed to incorporate them beautifully, the character development and atmosphere building were impeccable.

If it hadn't been for the lackluster climax, this would've been a spiritual successor to the genre defining cult classics like "Manichitrathazhu" and "Anandabhadram", alas, it wasn't to be.

If you haven't seen Tummbad, brace yourself for a memorable watch that will stay with you for a long time, both for it's aesthetics and pitiable climax sequences.

Overall, a decent attempt at recreating the on-screen magic of Tummbad.

First the good points * Interesting horror side engaging with tales of demons, spirits tantra and a look at ancient kerala and landlords thamburatti, *Simple costumes, real outlook without glamour and fanfare * Authentic tantrik practices and temple worship system depicted

Spoilers * Car, Bikes, Wrist watch are shown but then in the landlord house there is no electricity and oil lamps are used * Dhruvan cuts off three fingers in later part of movie the fingers are back again * In modern time of car, bikes the labour and birth of child is done in house with midwives.

Murder is committed in open fields no cops or police

Actual year is not disclos.

Barring a few scenes, the movie is refreshing and with a lot new and chilling ideas. Aishwarya Lakshmi as Kumari is really terrific. She excels in many scenes.

Apart from her, Shine Tom Chacko, Swasika Vijay and Surabhi Lakshmi make their presence felt.

The background score by Jakes Bejoy is pulsating and a couple of songs are really good.

Nirmal Sahadev's story is a heady mixture of fantasy and horror. As the director, he did a clean job of presenting an eminently watchable movie, if you can excuse him for a few boring scenes.

The locations are very good and carefully chosen by the movie team. Overall, a paisa vasool movie.

I'm confused on so many levels about this movie. On the one hand, the visuals and the music together make a great atmosphere throughout the movie making the horror fantasy feel of it almost perfect. On the other hand, the dialogues are horrendous with a stage drama-like style to them and the direction of the actors seems to make it worse. It's only when the actors deliver something beyond the dialogue, some things they are already comfortable with outside of this movie, that the acting works very well. Shine Tom's recent unhinged interviews now feel like an extension of this character. Either you will love it or you will hate it. I loved his performance in this movie so much that no one else deserves a mention about their performances after his one in this movie.

There is an attempt to use folklore and bring it to a western sensibility without losing our perception of such folklore. That aspect is clearly inspired by Tumbbad but it doesn't really translate beyond the basic idea and some creature designs used. Due to this attempt, there are a lot of things in the movie that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but the movie doesn't really want us to think that deeply either.

Overall, I think Kumari is a decent attempt despite its shortcomings as a horror fantasy. It could've been easily a better experience just by trimming around 30 minutes out of the movie.

By making Ranam and Kumari, placing both films on extreme ends of the spectrum in the visual landscape and making both of them aesthetically stunning yet lacking something in the writing department, Nirmal Sahadev proves his aesthetic sensibilities and the need for a better screenwriter for his stories.