Akashaganga 2

Akashaganga 2 is really a variety entertainer. The comedy in the movie will terrify you and the horror treatment will make you laugh out loud. Towards the climax of the movie a black magician asks the ghost to leave the body of our heroine and it says no. That conversation was somewhat the peak of unintentional comedy. It almost reminded me of the conversation between Thilakan and Kuthiravattam Pappu in Minnaram when the later refused to open the door on Thilakan’s request. Akashaganga 2 might end up as a fun film for you, but just not the way director Vinayan wanted you to enjoy it.

Aarathi is our heroine and she is studying MBBS in a self-financing college. She is the daughter of Maya(Divya Unni). Almost everyone in her family except her father met with an unfortunate end because of the curse of the spirit of Ganga. So after 20 years, Aarathi sets the spirit free (otherwise how a sequel will happen?) after she agreed to listen to one foolish advice of a classmate about a black magician who helps you to talk to your dead relatives. Post that the usual drill happens and for guessing that you are not going to get any claps.

There is a “funny” sequence in the movie where a dead body in the anatomy lab comes alive and in Vinayan cinematic universe, that’s just a track comedy that needs no clarification (just like that). And there are numerous “fresh” ideas in this movie totally “different” from the usual horror movies. Like the heroine accidentally setting the spirit free, she doing supernatural things and relatives and her true lover unable to identify the eccentric change in her and finally a black magic fiasco to put an end to all of this that has elaborate usage of fan and leaves. Vinayan gives a solid company to actor-director Balachandra Menon in having the least understanding about the current generation and its taste. He hasn’t really used Sreenath Bhasi as an actor in the film, he could have at least asked him whether his writing about Bhasi’s generation is correct or not. Caricature characters are there trying desperately to be funny and it all falls flat.

In a recent interview, Vinayan claimed that the kids of this generation are evaluating him on the basis of Yakshiyum Njanum and Dracula which he made while he was facing a ban from the industry. With all due respect to your old movies sir, except for slightly better production value and a better cast and crew, your writing and making are still in that outdated zone. Bad writing is the primary reason why people didn’t like Yakshiyum Njanum, Dracula, and Little Superman, etc. Here also it is very evident that the movie is simply trying to utilize the legacy of a hit film to make money. The horror movie genre has evolved over the years and now we are addressing an audience who is exposed to all kinds of movies including the Conjuring universe. Repeating an Akashaganga with a new team along with some shoddy graphics is like telling the audience on their face that you are being looted. The horror looks of characters are tackier than a normal Halloween costume and the visual effects, in general, were terrible.  The cinematography and edits are not doing anything special to reduce the mediocrity. The background score is on that excessive side giving the cue to the audience on where to get scared and where to laugh.

Debutant Veena Nair as Aarathi gets a major help through the dubbing artist and in totality, the performance was okay and matched the tone of the movie. Vishnu Vinay is still in that expressionless Gambhino’s state. I really felt bad for Sreenath Bhasi who has absolutely nothing to do in this entire movie. Vishnu Govindan is the usual sidekick. Dharmajan, Hareesh Kanaran, and Salim Kumar are the forcefully added comedy resources of the movie. Senthil Krishna’s inspector Balaraman with horrendous Trivandrum slang was so bad that I had to buy a cup of coffee to tackle the headache it gave me. For some reason, it feels like Ramya Krishnan is playing the same character in every movie these days. Riyas reprises his role from the original and there are names like Hareesh Peradi, Sunil Sukhada, Praveena, Thesni Khan, etc in the long list.

If the last horror movie you saw was 1999’s Akashaganga, then this sequel will work for you. The fact that nobody had any objection with this severely outdated script is the major horror aspect of this film. The unintentional comedy in this movie is so good that I will put this movie in the “so bad, its good” list of films.  

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