Bengaluru, India – How far will you go for a video? This is the surface-level question that Srinidhi Bengaluru aims to answer through the sharp two-hour runtime of Video. The question doesn’t invite as much interest as the format does. A group of five Kannadiga vloggers set out on a nervy road trip from urban Bengaluru to a haunted school in Odisha’s Padmapur—in search of fame and fresh off receiving the coveted Silver Play Button from YouTube for racking up one million subscribers.
But what plays out next isn’t chapters from your usual haunted-house handbook. As the Tharle Gang tests the limits of how far they are willing to go for a video to take off, we’re asked to reckon with this world through the dizzyingly compelling found-footage format.
The best part of Video is the way it sets up its world. The Tharle Gang—Chan, Chinni, Madhura, OG, and Bharatha—is a largely relatable group of misfits who rack up subscribers for the way they see their city. They speak “city” in a way familiar to many YouTubers, finding their place among Bengaluru’s locals and migrants as they navigate the city and their lives within it through the compelling language of internet pop culture.
Even if the film doesn’t have much time to establish these characters, their friendship is instantly identifiable. The found-footage aspect is equally inventive, showing their life in fragments through drones, handheld cameras, slanted smartphone frames, AI glasses, and occasional CCTV footage. The Blair Witch Project influence is unavoidable, but the use of the technique to capture the colour and texture of India’s vlogging space feels fresh.
The second act is where Video enters a literal and figurative slippery slope. As the gang finally reaches their destination and we’re ready for the paranormal activity to be dialled up, the effect is surprisingly glassy. Conceptual and imaginative horror is what makes found-footage films like Rec and The Blair Witch Project exciting. Modern and traditional masters of horror have often proved there is nothing deadlier than imagination as a tool to evoke dread. This isn’t a school of thought that Video lives by.
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The monsters aren’t left for us to imagine, and when we do see them on screen, the tension deflates. The horror is literal, relying heavily on shock value without ever quite landing a gut punch. Themes of cannibalism and the occult are explored but don’t get the groundwork to make the tension palpable. The technique works overtime to overcome these limitations, leaving behind an uneven but immensely ambitious project that is chock-full of passion.
