A ghost of a leading lady

Beauty queen -turned-heroine Trisha, with a career spanning over 50-odd films in about 15 years is one of the longest surviving heroines in southern cinema. Along with Nayantara, another multi-lingual star who is still pulling in the crowds all over, Trisha too has maintained her slot in the film world, pretty comfortably.

No wonder, in her latest film, ‘Nayaki’, as the credits roll out, she is endearingly called ‘Evergreen’ by the film unit, which rests its case solely on the box-office potential of the leading lady. On the face of it, the film seems to have everything in ample measure the weight of the star cast, the in-vogue theme of scary ghosts and spooky bungalows and above all, thrills and chills which are a part and parcel of such films.

With a collection of actors like Satyam Rajesh and Ganesh Venkataraman, who enters the scene post-interval, the audience is let in into a tale in which young men mysteriously get sucked in into a ‘restricted area’ , leading to an abandoned mansion between Hyderabad and Dundigal, from where they never return.

The media drums up a frenzy on this issue as expected and into this tense scenario one sees Rajesh, a vagabond of sorts, getting trapped into visiting the haunted bungalow, with an ‘innocent’ girlfriend in tow. Domiciled there is a well-dressed heroine with a butcher’s knife and blood thirsty attitude. What next?

Director Govi aka Govardhan Reddy attempts a blend of the retro and the modern in which he shows his heroine serenading to the ‘70s hit ‘Sirimalle Poova’ and ruthlessly butchering the intruders who get sucked into her domain. Till the interval, the build up as to why such cold-blooded deaths take place is quite heavy, with the wiles and the guiles of the ghost getting the better of the characters who want to escape from her clutches.

However, the cinematic twist, in which the flashback reveals the unfortunate happenings in the heroine-turned-ghost’s life comes a tad too late and by then the audience begin to treat the film like more of a horror comedy. The serious tone to the movie is dissipated totally as Brahmanandam makes his guest appearance even as the climax is done and dusted to a predictable ending. It thus, ends up as yet another horror fantasy film, only shaping up as an acid test to evaluate Trisha’s power in making the public turn up to watch her latest venture.

Film Name : Nayaki

Cast : Trisha, Ganesh Venkatraman and Satyam Rajesh
Direction : Govi
Genre : Horror
Likes : Staying rooted in the horror-thriller genre
Dislikes : Yawn-inducing flashback

By K Naresh Kumar