Bhoothakaalam - Not A Movie Review

((SPOILERS))

I would like to express my view in two different perspectives.

First one, a horror movie with supernatural elements, which is the common feedback from most of viewers. With minimal budget and casting it tells an engaging story of different contrasts in mother - son relationship with some supernatural stuff in the final moments. It may workout for some segment, where some may find it too silly.

Second one, a psychological drama without any supernatural elements!!

I would like to go with second option, as it seems more sensible to me. Bhoothakalam is a story of human relations and the different phases in our life where we lose control over our thoughts and actions, which leads to different mental conditions. Eg: Stress, anxiety, insomnia, schizophrenia, depression etc. This phase of life is too dangerous and Director tells us how one survives and fails by using some metaphors. The Director used minimum supernatural elements and focused more of the movie into the depth of the characters. How lack of understanding between each other leads into tensions and creates problems which goes beyond their control.

The three central characters grandmother, mother and son represents the past, present and future. The grandmother knows a lot of things happened in the life of her daughter and grandson but now she is in a condition, where not able to convey this. Mother understands the past and tries to change the future of her son, unfortunately got stuck in the present due to haunting past of his husband. Son, mostly unaware of the past, cannot digest the present and is very keen on future. If you see the time frame, present is the phase which connects to both past and future. These different sketches of characters are shown in the movie which builds the foundation of the story.

In the beginning scene, we see grandmother walking into the room of son, maybe trying to communicate to him. Son is uncomfortable with that (the past) and openly expresses his wish. Mother trying to convince him as she had to balance both her son (future) and his grand mother (past)

The rental house shown in the movie is symbol of the most difficult phase in human life, where people goes through some dangerous psychological conditions. Out of all those people who lived there in the past, some committed suicide, some got murdered, some injured. After the death of grandmother, the situation turns worse, the past starts haunting the son too. He slips into a very challenging mental condition.

If you watch closely, you will see that the final 15 minutes of horror comes right after the moment when mother throws the 'sinful' dosa in to the dustbin. She did it, because it was that moment in her life where she and her son finally sort out their differences. She quickly realised her mistake, hence decides to start a new chapter. This emotional battle is shown in the final 15 minutes where son is fighting the horror of grandmother's death and mother on his husband's death. Mother picks the key of confidence,  slowly overcomes the fear of manly silhouette in the house unlocks the door to come out of the house permanently, metaphorically telling us she finally comes out of their horrible past and all those psychological dilemmas by holding hand of his son (future).

The final conversation is what Director summarises about the entire movie. The counselor tells the uncle that different people may have different experiences. All we have to do is support them. To which uncle says, wherever they go same things It brilliantly sums up the attitude of society towards mental issues and why we need to give attention to them.

In the last scene, son tells mother, he is worried about the people who are next to stay in the rental home. The people who are going enter this challenging phase of life.

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The most haunting aspect in this movie for me is not the final 15 minutes, scary scenes, bgm or camera tricks. It is the characters shown in the movie, which is a resemblance of ourselves. A harsh reality.

🙂