The hostel horror comedies have been tasting success of late in Malayalam, and the new movie Karakkam by Subash Lalitha Subramanian is also trying to explore a similar space, with the premise being a lodge. While the core idea that adds the horror element to the story sounds very interesting, the film, co-written by the director, feels underwritten. With just 104 minutes of runtime, Karakkam is an interesting idea that should have had more nuances beyond the generic revenge structure. It is the kind of film you hate as a reviewer, because there are many things that you liked and so many things you disliked, you yourself get confused about where you stand when it comes to a simplistic verdict.
Dhanush, our main character, is a dancer, and his financial state is really bad. Plus, he is an irresponsible person. Ambika Lodge is a place where his friend stays, and he frequently goes there. During a New Year’s celebration, a fight broke out in that lodge, and he and another guy named Khaja ran away from there to a cemetery. The drunken deeds of these two led to a scenario where a group of spirits started following them. How these two try to find a solution to this situation is what we see in this movie.
Like I already said, the runtime of this movie is really minimal, and there are a few areas where the humor really lands. They are using the uniqueness behind the idea of the ghosts to create humor. The ghosts here are scary, but they don’t really throw tantrums like other ghosts. The spoofy nature of horror comedies, where they sort of address the cliches we have seen in horror films, is also making Karakkam passable in many areas. And another aspect is the dialogue humor. There are several areas, especially in the second half, where the counter dialogues would make you giggle. But the structure of the screenplay in all those areas is pretty familiar, and we even wonder why all those tracks and characters in the first half were needed for this movie.
Subash Lalitha Subramanian, who previously directed Charles Enterprises, is not really making an effort to break the predictions. Subash and his writers, Nipin Narayanan and Arjun Narayanan, are trying to add this spoofy and quirky humor to an existing template. The moment the villain is introduced, we can predict a possible backstory, and what we eventually get is something that is very close to what we anticipated. The closure to the whole ghost track also feels generic. But they sort of make it partially interesting by including the goofy police in that area. The excessive usage of 2D animations almost made it look like the movie had budget constraints.
There is a Sreenath Bhasi we all liked in movies like Honey Bee, North 24 Kaatham, and even Jacobinte Swargarajyam. Karakkam sort of brings back that style of humor, and he was effortlessly witty in doing that. Praveen TJ, famous for playing the younger version of Ganga in Kammattippadam, has always been typecast in these outraged characters in movies, and I actually loved the fact that they sort of placed him in the role of Khaja. It was so good to see him perform in that subtle meter. By the end of the first half, I thought the only lengthy dialogue Femina George would get would be the anti-smoking disclaimer. But the writers decided to give that character some space in the second half, and she was fine overall. Abhiram Radhakrishnan, in his typical style, adds a layer of fun to the film. Romanjam fame Midhutty is also there, along with Bijukuttan and Siddharth Bharathan. The ghost gang led by Shaun Romy was also convincing on screen.
The first thought that came to me after the movie was whether they trimmed the film by chopping a bulk of scenes. When you see certain characters, it feels like some details are missing in them, and the film’s current treatment is devoid of drama and focuses entirely on humor. And the humor is not that consistent either. Karakkam is an idea that had a lot of potential, in terms of premise. But when it comes to expanding on the idea, it decides to focus more on the momentary humor rather than walking away from the cliches.
