Prakambanam movie review: Ganapathi, Sagar Surya’s horror comedy is fun if you’re willing to overlook its problematic political undertones

Rukmini alias Chembakathamma (Mallika Sukumaran) is the matriarch of an elite Hindu family in northern Kerala. Although she is a staunch theist and highly superstitious, her sons, Raghavan (Kalabhavan Navas) and Rameshan (Azeez Nedumangad), are the exact opposite and members of the Leftist party. As a result, quarrels are frequent in their household, but Chembakathamma’s husband, Madhavan (PP Kunhi Krishnan), has no say in anything and is always just a mute spectator. Thus, even when she dies, and her sons decide to simply cremate her without carrying out rituals, Madhavan is unable to voice his opinion. He, nonetheless, secretly entrusts his grandson, Siddharth (Ganapathi), a college student, to dispose of her ashes in a temple town. Although hesitant at first, Siddharth agrees and brings the ashes to his hostel.

However, that may have been the costliest decision he ever made, as his grandmother’s ghost soon possesses his friend Punyalan (Sagar Surya), leaving Siddharth and Shankaran (Ameen), another one of his friends, clueless about what to do. Although she isn’t torturous, she creates a ruckus whenever youngsters behave in an undisciplined manner or violate the Chembakathamma-approved code of conduct, causing the trio significant trouble. Plus, she has one “small” wish to complete before leaving Punyalan’s body — commit a “small murder.” As they struggle tirelessly to solve the problem, other hostel inmates start having doubts about Punyalan’s behaviour, making matters worse.

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Although the initial scenes in the college hostel give a strong sense of déjà vu of Adi Kapyare Kootamani (2015), a well-executed campus horror film, director Vijesh manages to give Prakambanam a sense of uniqueness soon by weaving student politics and the mundaneness of college life into the narrative, rather than simply crafting one humorous moment after another. While the film is partly fun — thanks in particular to the impressive way in which Vijesh has extracted chaos from the scenarios — Prakambanam is one of those movies that has too many problematic layers beneath its glossy, hilarious surface.

In fact, there are several scenes and situations in Prakambanam where it comes across as yet another savarna project that slyly trashes progressive ideologies, particularly Leftism, while presenting Brahmanism, and by extension Hindutva, as the ultimate, all-encompassing truth. For instance, there’s a scene in the movie where Siddharth is gearing up to deliver an election speech. Since he and members of his party are widely regarded as loafers and troublemakers, there’s already significant animosity towards them. As he gets on stage with his prepared speech that contains too many complex terms — a running joke against Leftists since the Sandesham (1991) era — others start booing him. Meanwhile, the “grandma mode” is activated in Punyalan, and s/he delivers a speech instead, invoking verses from the Bhagavad Gita, which entice everyone. In fact, the movie portrays Siddharth winning the elections solely because of this speech, without doing anything else.

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Prakambanam’s ridiculing of the Left and its placement of the savarna-ism as the ideal alternative don’t stop there. From start to finish, the movie depicts Leftists as involved in everything crooked and hypocritical, whereas Chembakathamma serves as the ultimate torchbearer of parampara, pratishtha, and anushasan. Although the makers have attempted to play it safe by including a character or two who belong to a political outfit resembling the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the Congress, they are merely portrayed as harmless jokers who are all talk and no action. In contrast, only the Left is shown to have ideological rot in Prakambanam. For instance, Raghavan, who bears a physical resemblance to certain real-life Marxist leaders in Kerala and initially advocates for rationalism, is depicted as suddenly jumping ship and becoming a believer as soon as he realises that the ghost of his mother is actually still around.

At the same time, the movie also paints college hostels as dens of immoral activities, particularly widespread substance abuse, and political party leaders and their spaces, especially those aligned with the Left, as the breeding ground for such behaviour. Prakambanam’s issues, nonetheless, don’t end with its contempt for the Left or its attempts to depict students, in general, as aimless addicts; it even slips in homophobia randomly, seemingly for the sake of “offering laughs.”

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Yet, director Vijesh and writer Sreehari’s crooked brilliance lies in their ability to wrap all these problematic layers in the glossy paper of comedy, complemented by just the right amount of horror. The hilarious, chaotic climax featuring far too many ghosts who have escaped from Stanislavski’s cupboard is one of the many moments the makers have managed to get right, which may lead some to overlook its political undertones.

Although Sagar Surya has admirably ensured that he breaks free from the image his villainous character Don Sebastian from Pani (2024) gave him — without any hint of it appearing here — his handling of comedy needs further improvement. It often feels like he’s trying too hard to be funny, and these attempts are evidently visible. Ganapathi proves yet again that he can pull off whatever is entrusted to him. Ameen’s performance, particularly his handling of humour, deserves commendation. Sheethal Joseph is also impressive as Punyalan’s girlfriend, Vedhika.

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Prakambanam’s biggest draw, nevertheless, is its music, with both Bibin Ashok (soundtrack) and Sankar Sharma (BGM) knocking it out of the park and uplifting the movie even when it stumbles. Sooraj ES’ editing is also top-notch, giving the visuals a trippy rhythm and adding to the overall experience.

Prakambanam movie cast: Ganapathi, Sagar Surya, Ameen, Rajesh Madhavan, Sheethal Joseph, Kalabhavan Navas, PP Kunhi Krishnan, Azeez Nedumangad
Prakambanam movie director: Vijesh Panathur
Prakambanam movie rating: 2 stars