Hyderabad, India – Mahendragiri Varahi, a Telugu supernatural thriller that has been in the making for a few years, feels stale because it is playing catch-up with a trend that has already reached saturation. Surprisingly, it proceeds along the same lines as director Santhosh Jagarlapudi and Sumanth’s earlier collaboration, Subrahmanyapuram, with both films clearly inspired by Karthikeya—an atheist protagonist heads to a superstitious village and uncovers the mystery behind strange occurrences.
Despite the been-there, seen-that setup, the film is interesting initially. The basic premise about a generational curse in a royal clan may remind audiences of Murari. The curse is linked to a local deity’s anger dating back to the wrongs committed by royal descendants. A ghost-busting YouTuber, Siddharth (Sumanth), refuses to buy this theory and sets out to find answers himself. A strange intro sequence unfolds in a temple near the Indo-Bhutan border, where the spirit of a dead man is believed to consume all offerings by night.
Though unoriginal, the film creates tension and urgency in the first half, laying the foundation for Siddharth’s character and the primary conflict around the curse. The film sticks to the plot, avoiding needless commercial distractions. A twist is reserved for the interval episode, and presenting the clan’s backstory through a harikatha is an impressive idea, but precious time is lost conveying the obvious. The film did not sustain interest thereafter. A cameo by a popular female actor leads the protagonist to the truth, and the climax feels like a nod to the current sociopolitical climate where generations carry anger for injustice meted out to their ancestors.
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Irrespective of the film’s issues, the suggestion that revenge is not a panacea for all problems is timely. While the director displays a reasonable hold over human drama, the writing is poor and the storytelling is old as the hills. Budgetary limitations show up often, especially with locations and jarring visual effects. The screenplay is tiring because it diligently subscribes to conventions, wanting to ride the mythological tide without offering anything new. Sumanth’s unwavering presence is the only reason the film is tolerable to a point. Mahendragiri Varahi lacks any major standout factor, taking its audience for granted and proving more yawn-inducing than thrilling.
