Annabelle Sethupathi (Annabelle Rathor in Hindi)
Director: Deepak Sundarrajani
Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Taapsee Pannu
Annabelle Sethupathi tries to arouse curiosity in the audience from the very first scene. A strange plot of a swarm of ghosts caught in a beautiful castle unfolds, without any reasoning why they are locked up there and cannot leave. An uncertain solution to their plight is equally absurd. I’m still trying to get over the ridiculousness of the story, so I’ll try to summarize it as much as possible.
The plot borrows from the oft-repeated tropes of old haunted palaces, reincarnations and disembodied spirits. A modern Indian avatar of a British woman (Taapsee Pannu) from the 1940s enters the palace that was built for her by a king (Vijay Sethupathi), encounters a horde of ghosts that only she can see And the one who thinks that is their ticket to salvation.
The director’s belief that this was a film worth making is as shocking as his decision to cast Taapsee in both British and Indian characters. In her fancy fedora and floral dress, she more closely resembles a model for a spring-summer fashion line than a 1945 woman. Vijay Sethupathi, who enters the second part, looks like a badly dressed North Indian groom in most of the frames. Costumes are critical to a period setting and the producer’s lack of attention to detail is a clear indication of a work done without dedication, among many others.
Despite the drama centering around a “spectacular palace,” the production design isn’t much to write home about. The look and feel of the film is like a school play with distinctly blunt swords, cheap props and a bunch of adult actors who actually run around like kids.
Horror comedies are in vogue in the film industries and some watchable ones have been made recently. Annabelle Sethupathi’s title is taken from a Hollywood horror film, which is also mentioned in a dialogue. There are comic scenes, there is romance, but there is horror? Overall a jump scare.
A shocking question that remained unanswered at the end of the 2:14 hour run was why would an actor of the caliber of Vijay Sethupathi and Taapsee Pannu choose to act in a film like this? The sentiments invoked in the romantic scenes between them are completely void of meaningless chase sequences and slapstick humour, for the most part, mostly due to Vijay’s restrained performance.
Jagapathi Babu is a powerful presence as a quiet but heartless villain, and his story is expected to continue in Part 2. Yogi Babu prominently carries the film on his shoulder as the all-purpose masterchef. His dialogues might have a better effect in Tamil, but you know what Hindi dubs of South films look like. Aside from that potential loss in translation, there’s nothing to be missed if you skip this flick.
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