Imagine having to consume a bitter-tasting film on an Ugadi morning, especially when you go expecting wholesome entertainment. Premakatha Chitram that released a few years ago with Sudheer Babu and Nandita was a hilarious ghost story that had repeat viewing. The sequel begins with a voice over by Rao Ramesh giving us a hint of what is to follow soon.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t watched the first part because this one has no connection whatsoever with it except a farm house where the drama unfolds. The saddest part about the film is its regressive content. It is a knotty, old fashioned and a tepid experience from the word go, especially the entire episode picturised on Apoorva.
Sudheer (Sumanth Ashwin) is a college student and Bindu (Siddhi Idnani), his classmate, falls in love with him and she is rebuffed as the former is in love with Nandu (Nanditha Swetha). A spurned Bindu commits suicide and quite understandably Nandu begins to behave weirdly. Now, even a kid can tell she is possessed and the entire first half is used for a languorous screenplay showing how Nandu tortures Sudheer and his friend. This is where we miss the rib-tickling comedy by Saptagiri and Shakalaka Shankar and instead we have another comedian who relies on toilet humour and cinematic scares that hardly evoke a smile. Anybody well tuned with horror stories will know where the director is going with this but luckily, post interval, he salvages the situation by introducing a third character, Chitra (Apoorva).
- Cast: Sumanth Ashwin, Nandita Swetha
- Direction: Hari Kishan
It gets revealed now that Sudheer was going to be married to Chitra, but on the day of the marriage he sees a video of Chitra with another man and realises she’s been two timing him and he calls off the wedding. He happens to be Bindu’s brother. A humiliated Chitra dies but comes to possess Bindu to trouble her as well as Sumanth Ashwin.
The audience have a tough time and is confused as to who is possessed by whom till one is eliminated making life simpler. There are very few characters in the film and all the scenes are set in a closed atmosphere. To know when the ghost is possessed and dispossessed, the director spoon feeds us turning the colour of the girl’s eyes into blue. The hero has nothing to do as Nandita Shweta is all over doing her ‘Ekkadiki Pothave Chinnadana’ act; thankfully towards the end he too shows his histrionics but we care less.
Nanditha Swetha does what she is expected to do but honestly, is screaming and CG termed as acting? Vidyulekha Raman is a fleeting distraction and Siddhi Idnani does her part well. The only saving grace is the ghost feeling the need to explain everything that happens throughout the film in the last few minutes.