‘Pindam’ review: Hooks with scary elements

Cast: Srikanth Sriram, Kushee Ravi, Eswari Rao, Srinivas Avasarala, Ravi Varma, Manik Reddy, Baby Chaitra, Baby Leisha, Vijayalakshmi and others

Director: Saikiran Daida

Music: Krishna Saurabh Surampalli

Cinematography: Sathish Monharan

Producer: Yashwanth Daggumati

Rating: 2.75/5

“Pindam,” directed by Sai Kiran Daida is capturing widespread attention with its interesting and spine-chilling promotional content. Starring Srikanth Sriram in the lead role, the much-anticipated film is set to hit the screens on December 15, 2023. Let’s see whether "Pindam" truly lives up to its promise as ‘The most-scariest film ever’or not.

Story

A Christian family of Anthony (Sriram), his wife Mary (Kushee) and children Sophie and Tara along with their grandmother travel to Suklapet as Anthony gets a job in a rice mill. With Mary being pregnant, Anthony looks after everyone. After a few strange incidents in the new house, Tara gets possessed by a ghost and harms herself. Scared by this, Anthony calls Annamma (Eeshwari Rao), an exorcist to find out the reason for all these happenings and to come up with a solution. What are the consequences after that, how was Avasarala Srinivas linked to the subject is the main crux of the story.

Analysis

On paper, “Pindam” has a very typical storyline. The plot point is pretty familiar plot for a horror flick. Aisolated haunted house with ghosts, a family in deep trouble and a spiritual healer. However, debutante director SaikiranDaida manages to hook viewers to the screens. Initially, he creates curiosity in audience about what is going to happen next. The horror elements may be cliched but still scare the viewers. The tone and mood of the genre have been well-placed. The director played it to the genre’s strengths and advantages.

But the prolonged sequences, lack of quick progress, flat and bland narration, and substance-less buildup let down this “Pindam.” Though there is a scope for the film to be far better, the cliched writing and familiar scenes that are seen in previous horror films mar this film. The first half has passable moments and the second half has stretched portions. After the story is unravelled and the backstory is revealed, the film is pretty predictable.

On the whole, “Pindam” is a regular horror thriller with some decent moments. The performances from the lead cast are good, and the movie is high on technical values. But the main issue is with the narrative, which is flat for the most part.

Performances

It is quite interesting to see Sriram in such a film. He delivers the regular acting we see in horror films with ease. His expressions showing fear and worry convinces audience. He never failed to portreay his acting skills in the entire film.

Kushee Ravi is fine as a pregnant woman. She had a full-fledged role but she did not get any scenes to prove her acting capability. The actors who played the kids' roles were great and they pulled off the possessed scenes quite well. Eeshwari Rao brings a lot of depth and her look was well designed. Her acting elevated a few scenes. Avasarala Srinivas had a brief role and he was fine. The rest of the actors were just okay.

Technicians

The writer-director SaikiranDaida started off the film quite well but the film fizzles out by the end. His narration lacked pace and the scares were inadequate. The background music is decent throughout the film and gives the necessary impact. The sound effects are a bit scary in some places but the songs are completely forgettable.The visuals are good and the lighting is well done since most of the film happens indoors. The moody visuals and mystic mood definitely helped the proceedings. Editing can be much sharpened as the film feels a bit dragged in some places. The production values are good for this medium budget film.

Advantages

Horror elements

Few chilling scenes

Drawbacks

Dragged narration

Weak interval sequence

Predictable