Matinee (Kannada)
Director: Manohar Kaampali
Cast: Sathish Ninasam, Nagabhushana, Aditi Prabhudeva, Rachita Ram, Shivaram KR Pete, Poornachandra Mysore
Runtime: 133 minutes
Storyline: Arun owns a property in Bengaluru, where he invites his friends for a reunion.
However, the bunch of friends are troubled by paranormal activities and get trapped in the house ana and Shivaram shine with their dialogue delivery, Matinee does not explode with big laughs or inventive twists.
The horror genre is a tough nut to crack, and the film’s final act is a case in point.
Matinee gets unintentionally funny with its intended scares, and you are appalled at the ridiculous ideas of the director to invoke fear in you.
The overflowing melodrama also makes you wonder if the makers forgot the film was a horror comedy.
Unfortunately, Matinee even hints at a sequel in the end... now, that is a jump scare we did not see coming!
Matinee is currently running in theatres
Suni’s Avatara Purusha, a blackmagic drama, starring Sharan and Ashika Ranganath, was released in 2022. The film, with an interesting first 15 minutes and a closing portion packed with little surprises, ended with the promise of a worthy second instalment.
Of course, the first part did suffer from the makers’ intention to stretch a thin plot into two parts, as the middle portion had sporadic fun and several flat scenes.
The second instalment begins with a small narration about the events of
Avatara Purusha. Rama Jois (Saikumar), an Ayurveda exponent and his wife Susheela (Bhavya), lose their son Karna in a temple fair with his aunt Yashoda (Sudharani).
The incident creates a rift between Rama and Yashoda. After several years, in her attempt to unite the siblings, Yashoda’s daughter Siri (Ashika Ranganath) chooses Anil (Sharan), a junior film artiste, to pretend to be Karna. Anil manages to convince Susheela that he is her longlost son.
The film ends with the big reveal of Anil’s past.
Avatara Purusha starts steadily, with Anil recollecting his dark childhood at a blackmagic cult, headed by Dharka (Ashutosh Rana).
Anil escapes from the world of witchcraft and reforms himself under a spiritual teacher. However, he
Despite the challenges
realises that Dharka is targeting Rama and his family as they have a the crucial gemstone, the key to entering Trishanku Loka, a rare world neither belonging to heaven nor earth. The onus falls on Anil to save the family.
Sharan’s charm makes the film watchable, but only to an extent, as he saves several banal humorous scenes with his comic timing. However, once the film enters the supernatural zone, Avatara Purusha goes haywire. It fails to transport us into the eerie world of witchcraft and magic. The scenes feel shoddily joined together as the film suffers from a lack of rhythm, and the final showdown between Anil and Dharka does not blow our minds away.
The second instalment