Chitram Bhalare Vichitram Review

Of late, our directors have started to take horror-comedy to mean comedic horror.  ''Chitram Bhalare Vichitram'' from the director of ''Prayogam'' fame falls in this category.  The genre of horror-comedy has been a hot cake ever since Maruthi struck gold with ''Prema Katha Chitram''.  Writer-director Bhanu Prakash Balusu comes up with an interesting premise, but as the story progresses, it is reduced to a raft of comedy scenes where the connect goes missing.

Shiva (Manoj Nandam) and Madan (Anil Kalyan) have been thick friends since childhood.  Despite being a stammerer, Shiva aspires to an actor.  Madan wins over a bungalow after a litigation and decides to rent out the building to filmiwallahs.  Least do Shiva, Madan and the film crew which comes there to shoot know that the bungalow has a locked up haunted room abutting it.

The film essentially banks on the story line and story-telling, given that the shoestring budget did not make it possible for the makers to give a visual feast.  However, the scenes lack any zing to make the audience root for the film.

Positively, the first half boasts of some balanced performances.  Manoj and Anil look convincing, so also Chandini Tamilarasan of ''Kaali Charan'' fame.  However, the director loses a sense of proportion and the actors are reduced to caricatures in the second half.

For example, all you have is a perfunctorily and hurriedly narrated flashback and the present too oscillates between inferior technique and half-hearted seriousness.

The comedy scenes involving Prabhas Sreenu, Subhashini, Surya and others fall flat.  It is inconceivable how someone thinks a forcibly written cheque cannot be directed to be cancelled later.

The cinematography by T Surendar Reddy is low-end.  Kanakesh Rathod''s music is sub par.

Verdict: A mediocre horror-comedy that boasts of good performances, but that suffers from caricaturish reductionism.

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