Cashing in on the prevailing trend of horror-comedies is Rum, a heist horror-comic flick. It centres on the spooky incidents in a haunted bungalow where a group of thieves get trapped, with a rogue cop on their trail. In case you were wondering, the title means verdict or judgement! Better crafted than many earlier films of the genre, particularly in its first half, it is however the presence of Vivekh that sustains interest and peps up the proceedings almost throughout the film.
The narration opens on multiple tracks. A cop is found murdered in a forest, and his daughter (a new recruit to the police force) is missing. Some paranormal activities take place on a mansion.
And then the narration shifts to Shiva, a thief and his team of four, who after stealing some ancient priceless stones, select the remote bungalow as their hideout. An interesting weave to the story is when the director shows how these thieves have moved from small thefts to robbing precious stones worth crores.
The paranormal forces in the bungalow manifest themselves in ways we have seen before. A Rubik’s cube, white ball and a doll are part of the ghostly paraphernalia. The garishly painted ghostly faces and the eerie sounds also form part of the scenario.
In the first half, both horror and humour have worked out well. It is in the second half that the plot loses steam as it goes into the history of the ghostly mansion. But it peps up again towards the end where the tormented souls unleash their vendetta. The re-enactment of the story behind the mansion and the thieves witnessing it, gives it a fine touch.
Hrishikesh (cousin of composer Anirudh) in his first lead role fits in adequately. Sanchita gets equal space and provides the glamour quotient. Narain’s rogue cop is more watchable than some of his recent ‘heroic’ efforts. The songs are well integrated with the story telling. Rum could be a one-time watch for the sake of Vivekh, who is hilarious with his spot-on-comic antics.
| Film | Rum |
| Director | Sai Bharath |
| Cast | Hrishikesh, Narain, Sanchita Shetty, Vivekh , Mia George, Arjun Chidambaram, Amzath Khan |