Mangalavaaram 2023

Ajay Bhupathi scored a surprise success with RX100 and the movie went on to become a sensation. The director’s next, Mahasamudram did not fare well and now he joined hands with his RX100 heroine Payal Rajput again for a thriller, Mangalavaaram. The trailer hinted at many suspenseful visuals and a curious plot. The movie was released today in theaters and let us see if Mangalavaaram is scary and enthralling. Here is the review from the US premieres.

The writings on the wall in a small village reveal the illicit affairs every Tuesday night and people with names on the wall end up dead. So the whole village and the police are determined to find who is behind these deaths and writings. What did they find? Who is Shailu (Payal Rajput) and how is she related to the deaths? The answer to these questions is Mangalavaaram.

Payal Rajput gets a role with substance in Mangalavaaram after her RX100. She performed well in the bold role. Ravindra Vijay excels as the doctor and his role picks up prominence towards the latter half. Ajay Ghosh, Sritej, Shravan Reddy, Nanditha Swetha, and others did fine. Chaitanya Krishna and Divya Pillai did well in their respective roles. Chaitanya Krishna got a good role after a long time and he gives an excellent performance towards the climax.

Mangalavaaram is technically excellent. To start with, the cinematography is top-notch. It has gripping visuals, particularly in the sinister episodes. The background music deserves appreciation more than anything else in the movie. Ajaneesh Loknath’s BGM is the soul of Mangalavaaram. The screenplay is good. There were some boring sequences like the chaos at a local function and dragged sequences in the second half.

The audience always has a curiosity for the thriller genre films. If executed properly the thriller and suspense films enthrall the most. Mangalavaaram is one from the genre and the movie mostly satisfies a suspense-loving audience.