Unakenna Venum Sollu (Tell me what you want) - Horror, yes, frightening… not really!

In my humble opinion horror films are built around a plot that is filled with myths and suspenses. The suspense element in a horror film is so precious that it is the holy grail that holds the outcome. This being the case, would any sane director reveal it casually during an FM radio interview? While I was driving around with the FM playing at the background, I was listening to this piece of interview where the director of this movie, debutant Srinath Ramalingam blatantly spilt the beans on the movie’s storyline. So it was a no-brainer for me to connect the dots even before watching it. I wouldn’t say that was the only spoiler, even otherwise the movie’s storyline was very much on predictable lines with minimal thrills and maximum frills.

To put it straight, in this movie the ghost is a child that is born out of a premarital relationship between a couple (Deepak and Jaqlene) who later get separated and lead their own lives independently. The ghostbuster is mime Gopi who gets to play his second ghost movie in 2 weeks straight after ‘Maya’. Another common knot is that in this movie too Gopi is killed by the ghost toward the climax. But the commonality ends there. The script as I mentioned was very predictable and didn’t even bother to keep us guessing.

Also there was a portion that involved a romance between Deepak and the charming Mourhrna A Reddy. I started tapping my mobile at this point as the movie’s mood drifted away from horror to something more romantic. Then finally a knot was put in place and Deepak’s role gradually started to weigh up. Barring Deepak, others in the cast didn’t seem to grasp the mood of the scenes they were performing in. The reactions were amateurish and the performance in general was well below average.

There were hardly any scares. Time and again people were allowed to wander in darkness and the same is repeated at different places with different pitches of scream at the end of each scene. If the director thinks that is scary, then what about a plot, some murkiness and some sinister element woven into it? Or is it that our creators are running out of steam scaring us? The climax dealt with some hypnotherapy and ghost-busting smashed together, which was somewhat passable. Again there was some tackily made out CG for the climax sequence that pulled the filmmaking back by a yard. Why are we still influenced by Avatar-like visual elements even after 5 years of its release? I think 2015 would go down as the year with maximum number of ghost movies released in Kollywood. Amongst the lot only Maya and Kanchana seem to have struck the right note so far. Both had contrasting narrative styles, yet they stood their ground to deliver for what they were conceived in the first place. But UVS seem to have hardly any clue on why it has failed to spook us despite having a promising plot and some good backing from NRI producers. Better luck next time Srinath and team!

Verdict: Below average

Rating: 2 / 5