Subham marks the foray of actress Samantha into film production. The horror-comedy debuts at the cinemas this Friday. In this section, we are going to review the latest BO release.
Plot:
In Bheemilipuram, 9 pm strikes fear in the minds of scores of men. The three male protagonists are among them. Why? Their wives lose their marbles while watching Janma Janmala Bandham, a mega soap opera that refuses to be over. As the mawkish TV serial plays, the three wives literally behave as though Masooda has possessed them, leaving their husbands pissing in their pants. What is the link that connects the three women to the serial? Are the men at fault? Can they do anything about the supernatural drama unfolding right in their living rooms?
Performances:
Harshith Reddy gets the maximum screen space. The actor is believable in the role of a timid chap who believes he must act like an alpha male to earn his wife's respect. Shriya Kontham comes across as a woman with a hidden agenda; her appearance and body language add to the intrigue. Gavireddy Srinivas and Charan Peri, as the male lead's friends, are good. Shravani Lakshmi and Shalini Kondepudi don't get much to showcase their acting potential.
Some amount of tension and bona fide anxiety in the performances would have gone a long way in adding to the film's suspense factor. While the screenplay reveals its cards too early on, the actors' straightforward performance only aggravates it all. Samantha Ruth Prabhu's cameo is fun. Rag Mayur of Keedaa Cola fame's comedy timing is derivative.
Technical aspects:
The background music by Vivek Sagar is stylized here and there. The songs are welcome guests. The cinematography by Mridul Sujit Sen is nimble.
Tra la la Pictures' production values are impressive. For a film seemingly made in real locations, the quality is impeccable for the most part. The use of sync sound for many scenes aids the naturalistic approach.
Post-Mortem:
The writing by Vasanth Maringanti takes care of the staging and grounding part. The first few scenes, especially the prologue involving Gangavva (in a cameo), is an example of clever writing. The three prominent female characters talk about savings and business plans in an informal setting. The first half does the job of establishing the characters fairly well.
The film has the pacing of an indie movie, the vibe of a direct-to-streamer release, and the creative juice of a well-staged short film. The conversations between the married couples, while kosher initially, lack the zing in the later portions. The husbands are emotionally stilted and verbally stagnant in the second half. The interval bang should have led to a quickening of the pace and a deepening of the spousal encounters in the second hour.
The nocturnal twists involving the couples don't necessarily ape the Prema Katha Chitram template, but the repetitiveness shows. The scared reactions of the three petrified hubbies cease to evoke laughs after a point. What is a bigger disappointment is that you can predict their narrow reactions. There is no reason why the husbands should put themselves in danger but they do - even during the most eerie nights.
The writer of the movie happened to make a pop observation about TV serials: he suggested that we shouldn't demean them, given they are a source of timepass for so many people. Just because something kills boredom, should we accept it as desirable and inevitable? Indian TV serials reflect the dark mindset we tend to live with in our intellectually and morally inward-looking society. A whole lot of domestic issues involving in-laws and daughters-in-law depicted by these atrocious and frankly disgusting TV shows betray the wretched behaviours prevalent we are so casual about. In Subham, for the most part, the women are passive receivers of whatever is beamed into their homes by the Idiot Box.
Closing Remarks:
Subham has a mighty curious premise and is enriched by dollops of clever writing. The good part is that it is not a regular horror-comedy with a romantic plot. It's more of a family horror-comedy with a social satire angle.
