3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Paramasivan Fathima Movie Review: Not all spirits are worth summoning
Paramasivan Fathima Movie
Synopsis
Two feuding villages, one Hindu and one Christian, face a series of murders that lead to the revelation of spirits seeking justice for past religious conflicts.
Paramasivan Fathima Movie Review:
Written By:
Abhinav Subramanian
Just when you thought Kollywood had exhausted its quota of caste-and-religion films, along comes Paramasivan Fathima to prove there's always room for one more. Set in feuding villages of Subramaniapuram (Hindu) and Yokopuram (Christian), the film opens with wedding night murders that have both communities pointing fingers. Director Esakki Karvannan (who also plays the police lead) handles religious themes with heavy-handed obviousness, reducing believers to caricatures who might as well be living in medieval times rather than modern first half establishes the murders with attempted comic sequences that fall flat. A man is lured to his death by following a singer he's attracted to into the forest - hardly the stuff of suspense. The police investigation aims for laughs that never land, making the whole enterprise feel tonally inevitable flashback reveals childhood sweethearts Paramasivan (Vimal) and Fathima ( Chaya Devi ) separated by religious conversion, Fathima's father's death and his dying wish to be buried as a Hindu, and the resulting burial ground disputes. Both Paramasivan and Fathima are murdered, and their grievances manifest as vengeful spirits. The film drags you through 140 minutes of village squabbling only to resolve everything with supernatural intervention - it's like watching grown adults argue over whose imaginary friend is and Chaya Devi do what they can with roles that require them to be both earthly teachers and ethereal avengers. MS Bhaskar's Father character is a collection of tired pastor clichés. The visuals are serviceable, though the sound design assaults you with unnecessary Fathima is the kind of film that thinks adding ghosts to rural conflicts automatically makes them interesting. It doesn't.
