Movie: Enga Amma Rani
Director: Bani
Cast: Dhanshika, Varsha, Varnika
On either side of the intermission, S Bani's Enga Amma Rani, starring Dhanshika, feels like two separate films. The first half appears to be one of those 'you go girl' movies, where a single mom battles the fallout of an incurable disease that has already claimed the lives of one of her two daughters. The second half, and bear with me here, is a straight-out possession story, where your garden variety spirit of a slain girl has slipped into the daughter's body and has revenge on her mind.
How do the twain meet? Normally, I'd ask you to go check it out but, between the low availability of shows, and the pointlessness of it all, I'd rather you didn't.
There are parts of Enga Amma Rani that are heart-warming. For instance, it's nice to see that just because she's a single mom living in Malaysia, it doesn't mean that she's crying her heart out all the time, wondering why life is so cruel. Instead, she's having a blast with her daughters - eating, temple-hopping, watching movies and doing other touristy things.
Dhanshika carries the first half of the film with her poise, understated emotions and a lot of ease while playing a young mother - perhaps not with the same effectiveness as Aishwarya Rajesh in Kaaka Muttai, but that was a whole other canvas and much better writing. And yet, there's something about the way Dhanshika carries herself in this film - it's almost as if she knows that things are sinking around her, but she's staying on the ship anyway.
It's also nice that when one of her twin daughters dies because of a mystery illness, the director doesn't give it some inane made-up name, but actually backs the diagnosis and treatment protocol with some solid medical research. It's incurable, and it seems a little unbelievable when the doctor says that the only way to save the other girl is to take her to a cold place and douse her in cold water all the time. But hey, Long QT syndrome is a real thing and cold weather, apparently, actually helps.
What's not quite so nice is the need to go from something that looks and feels like Joy to a stripped-down college production of Carrie. Not only do I not get why the director decided to go all supernatural on us, effectively removing the whole feel-good family drama vibe that he'd managed to create earlier, I'm also baffled by the poor production values - there are no visual effects, no haunting music, no nothing, really.
The background score and the songs by Ilaiyaraaja are stale, uninspired and seem to have been fished out from some outtakes from the late 80's. The horror scenes fall flat largely because of the godawful sound design and the weirdly loud effects that dot these scenes.
And that's effectively when you stop taking the movie seriously. Between the ridiculously contrived 'possessed' face that the little child puts on, to the terrible attempts made by a doctor, mommy dearest and a Malaysian tuition master, who doubles up as a ghost-buster, you'll be crying for your mother before this gig ends.
Verdict: Terrible writing and horrific horror scenes that underwhelm a neat performance by Dhanshika.