Review: Kannada movie Nagavalli

Nagavalli is directed by Kumar, who assisted the Kannada film industry’s top director Upendra. He has directed several films but all of them fell flat at the box office.

Each film not only brought disgrace to him, but also make one wonder whether he learned the basics of filmmaking when assisted Upendra?

Not so surprisingly, Nagavalli is the latest addition to the list of bad films he has made. As for as the quality of the film goes, it may end up as the most torturous experience for viewers.

Title suggests that the story connects to two well-made horror entertainers like Apthamitra and Aaptharakshaka where ghost of Nagavalli strikes innocent people.

The story about the ghost of Nagavalli has been discussed a lot down South and many films starting from Malayalam classic Manichitratal were inspired by it. Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s Chandramukhi was based on the same theme and ran for more than 800 days in theatres.

Kumar has tried to cash in the hype surrounding the ghost of Nagavalli. But Nagavalli is not a decently made horror film and doesn’t reflect any honesty seen in the narration as was seen Fasil’s classic Manichitratal.

What you see is the garbed version of several stories and an annoying attempt to bring back memories of Kannada actress Kalpana’s controversial death.

The heroine of the film is shown catching up with Kalpana’s ghost. Kalpana, who was undoubtedly one of the best actresses of the industry, has been grossly misused in the film and her famous dialogues and songs have been added to fill space in the narrative.

Continuity in narration lacks logic. The director has failed to extract required work from technical crew.

The film starts off with a discussion on ghosts among students. A courageous girl in the group takes up the challenge to prove that ghost does not exist. But when she goes near a tamarind tree, she dies, but this sequence does not fit into the story.

After that it is shown that a police officer and his family members visit their estate for a holiday. But Kalpana’s ghost haunts the entire family in the name of Nagavalli.

Telugu actress Madhu Shalini looks good, but lacks talent.

Newcomer Venu has not been trained and has delivered one of the most terrible performances seen on the Kannada screen.

Comedy portions are badly written and even veterans like Bank Janardhan and Biraadar fail to elicit laugher. Parthibhan’s cinematography is bad, so is Layendra’s music. Avoid it!