Kanchana 2 - ‘Evilification’!

Straight off the bat - I sort of liked Kanchana - 2, the sequel to the popular Kanchana/Muni series which has been a money spinner for its producers and distributors for a few years now. Directed by Raghava Lawrence, the movie promptly ticks all the checkboxes that’s tailored for a horror comedy and also the ones that is atypical for the series.

Let me put across my review in the form of bullet points (it’s been awhile since I’ve done this).

What worked?

1. There is a fair plot among the goofy stuff that the movie boasts about, one that heavily draws its inspiration from the likes of Blair Witch project and so many other movies that followed.
2. The movie has its fair share of thrills which is enough to jerk the viewers many a times.
3. It also has some decent comic moments that gets the crowd roaring with laughter (especially during the first half)
4. Doesn't have much double entendre dialogs (except for the gay comedy track which was in fact rib tickling) - so family audiences were aplenty with kids and elders.
5. The performances were pretty decent as well. None of them were really obnoxious. However the surprise package was Nithya Menon - what a contrasting role from the one as the uber cool ‘Tara’ in OKK.

What irked?

1. The formulaic back plot that was easily predictable and was very similar to the one in the first part of Kanchana
2. Loud mouthed characters and their dialogs towards the climax - for e.g. ‘Peyukkum Peyukkum Sandai’ - this line gave some jitters as it urged the ‘commentators’ in the auditorium to come up with some unmentionably rhyming words in Tamil :)
3. Scary make-up overdose - while lauding the effort of the make-up artists, there was too much effort to bring the scares with some horribly made up facials. Lawrence, how do you spell ‘subtle’?
4. Songs - to put it simply, it was a disaster!

Brushing aside it’s naiveties, one can easily make peace with the movie as it certainly packs a lot in terms of entertainment value and can be watched as if like visiting a ‘bhoot bangala’ at amusement parks wherein we know that we are in for some scares, but do not know how and when.

Verdict: One time watch!

Rating: 2.75 / 5