Meera Jaakirathai (2016)

The makers of Meera Jakirathai should thank the recent controversy involving Bobby Simhaa, without which the film would have hardly garnered any attention from moviegoers. Simhaa had alleged that the crew shot the film as a small-scale production without the intention of making it a proper feature film. In fact, anyone who watches this movie will have to agree with him. The film opens with a simple, ineffective establishment shot of a bridge (called 'Kayaar paalam'), which has gained notoriety, owing to a series of horrifying deaths happening near it. Intrigued by this, a visual communication student plans to make a short film on the same, and forms a group of four. The 'enthusiastic four' set out to gather information pertaining to this bridge, said to be somewhere on the Chennai-Puducherry road. They get to know that a supernatural power/ghost is behind the unsolved murders. Later, it is understood that the mystifying homicides occur as part of avenging the brutal injustice done to the person who is the ghost. Thus, the film joins the umpteen numbers of films which have attempted this done-to-death formula. The wrongdoings of Sivanesan (Bobby Simhaa) and his set of friends lead to his own family member getting possessed by the evil spirit. How the ghost unleashes its vengeance and what exactly becomes the driving force for it, is for the viewers to watch... but only if they have the patience to sit through this ordeal. Monica, who (supposedly) plays the female lead in the film, comes only in the second half, and is apt in her brief role of a girl who is ready to elope with her lover. 'Lollu Sabha' Swaminathan, who has been brought on board for two scenes to provide comic relief, doesn't succeed, though the fault doesn't lie with him. Editing by Shyjith Kumaran is annoying in most of the scenes, and one finds it really challenging to watch the film till the end despite its under two-hour duration. The less we talk about the music by Raja the better. The actors, mostly debutants, are unimpressive; to be fair to them, they have no scope to do anything. The unconvincing climax coupled with a hint about a sequel just rubs salt into our wounds.