The final nail in the coffin of this film is its songs - not one of them work. The veteran comedienne even voices the statutory warnings.
Their importance is recognised, and they are given ample screen space to perform slapstick comedy. The saving grace of this film is the franchise’s most dependable characters, Raghava’s mother and sister-in-law, played by Kovai Sarala and Devadarshini. Speaking about which, the climax fight happens in a crematory set that reminded me of Chinnamma Chilakamma song from Sakkarakatti (which incidentally also starred Vedhika). If heroes punching goons from one end of the street to another is cliche, ghosts can apparently punch a person from an empty car parking to a godown. The action sequences are gory and are definitely not the sort you would expect in a kid-friendly film. These were one among a few scenes that were unintentionally funny. The scene where the exorcists visit this particular ghost, the family would’ve lit candles throughout the house even though no one asked for it and we know why - just because the ghost can appear and put off the candles in one swoop. A random family believes their daughter has severe stomach issue even when the young woman does everything we’ve seen in the Exorcist films and runs with its arms swaying behind like an anime character. The film doesn’t get interesting even when the plot thickens. Also, remember the recurring idea of Raghava jumping on to the hips of those nearby when he gets frightened by a ghost? All the leads in this film have the privilege of carrying him. We then get a scene in which he spanks each of them. As if that weren’t enough, even the ghost, which, as you guessed, takes over Raghava’s body, again refers to these women as ‘figures’. In a scene shortly after, he says, “Moonu perum onna vanthalum, naa ready” and this time, he is addressing his grandparents. Lawrence heralds their arrival by referring to them as ‘figures’ to his parents. Their job, it seems, is to woo Raghava (Raghava Lawrence), because as dictated by Tamil film traditions, that’s what ‘mama ponnunga’ do. All these three heroines have nothing productive to do in the film and seem to be defined by their skimpily clad appearance. To begin with, there’s no solid reason given for why we have all of them (Oviya, Vedhika and Nikki Tamboli). How this film portrays its three female leads, excluding the one who appears in the flashback sequences, is another exercise in disappointment. This character seems to have been etched out of the actor’s real-life persona and his charity deeds.
The flashback follows the trials and tribulations of Kaali, a Rajini reference which even leads to a ‘Ketta Paiyan Saar Intha Kaali’ song. The first three films starred Rajkiran, Sarath Kumar and Nithya Menen.
He goes around slaughtering people while loud and jarring music seems to slaughter our hearing.Ī big disappointment of this film is its flashback. What we get in this film is a proper mass hero introduction shot for Raghava Lawrence. Muni showed us how Rajkiran’s character gets killed, the second film showed how a piece of land is haunted, while the third shows how a house is taken over by spirits. The previous three films consistently showed us, at the outset, a glimpse of the ghost.