Hooptober 11: #18
[Criteria: 2/2 films from India]

One of the major positives about the movie is Upendra's ability to satirise the horror as well as the filmographies of the people involved in the movie. Kashinath especially is quite good at making himself the butt of the joke multiple times and taking it all in good stride. I love the foggy, high contrast atmosphere that is created during the night scenes as well, I wish I had a better print to appreciate it even more. And ofc it is quite smart about the meta elements in the movie but Upendra's strengths are also his weakeness. Upendra sets up tons of great moments but is overwhelmed by his own ideas and doesn't have the skills to meaningfully execute many of those ideas. It's a crying shame because this had the elements of being one of the best Indian horror made but fumbles it at almost every turn in the climax by trying to outsmart the audience a little too hard. Still feel a little sympathetic to the movie because of what it tried to achieve even if it didn't succeed at many of it. Disappointed but it was interesting nonetheless.