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Over the last decade, we've seen the 'exorcism' template overused in Hollywood. As a horror enthusiast, it has become one of my least favourite sub-genres at this point. In India - especially Tamil cinema - such films are still far and few. Which is why there's always a fair bit of excitement when a genre director like Ashwin Saravanan (whose Maya I liked and Game Over I did not like) decides to tell an exorcism tale centered around the COVID-19 lockdown. He and co-writer Kaavya Ramkumar (now, his better half) paint the picture of a well-off Christian family comprising Susan (Nayanthara), Dr. Joseph (Vinay Rai), their daughter Anna (Haniya Nafisa) and Arthur (Sathyaraj, playing Susan's dad), coming to terms with Dr. Joseph's sudden passing due to COVID exposure.

The horror premise certainly exudes promise. It is a stark reminder of the real horrors of the first lockdown when healthcare warriors really risked their lives to save others. The situation of a mother getting stuck at home with her possessed daughter is what you could call unique. But the writing is super derivative. It does nothing novel with the exorcism aspect, and heavily borrows from James Wan's The Conjuring and Rob Savage's Host. Also, we don't see Susan feeling a sense of urgency even when the writing's on the wall. As ironic as it may sound, there's a disconnect between Susan and the audiences. Anupam Kher's late entry does nothing but remind you of the dozens of priests we've seen in Western counterparts.

That said, some of the scares are solidly crafted and they're greatly helped by the impressive soundscape. Manikantan Krishnamachary's cinematography is also pretty good, given that much of the film plays out over phone screens.