Bhavana in a scene from “Hunt” | Photo credit: @GOODWILLENTERTAINMENTS/YouTube

Shaji Kailas’ brand of cinema was popular with moviegoers who celebrated larger-than-life heroes with long, pompous monologues, elaborately choreographed action sequences and inappropriate camera angles and shots taking centre stage. But success was a long time coming for the director who has delivered some of the biggest blockbusters in Malayalam cinema.

After a series of box office failures – despite KaduvaAndKappa the celebrated alpha male heroes declared hits – the director is back at the festival tent with huntingwith Bhavana as headliner, with whom he has worked since the release in 2005, Chinthamani Kolase.

With the film written by Nikhil Anand, Shaji has added supernatural horror to his oeuvre. Bhavana plays Dr. Keerthi, a postgraduate specializing in forensic medicine. Keerthi, a brave and outspoken person, has too much on her plate when the body of a woman (Aditi Ravi) is recovered from a river in a concrete-filled container. Soon, she senses the presence of a person around her and must deal with finding out the identity of the woman and the circumstances that led to her murder.

For a change, the director has chosen a female protagonist this time and thanks to the pace of the scenes and the structure of the situations, there is enough substance in the first scenes to keep the audience interested in the narrative.

Bhavana in a scene from “Hunt” | Photo credit: @GOODWILLENTERTAINMENTS/YouTube

But that’s about all you get; the script gradually loses its tension and the viewer’s interest soon evaporates. And this despite the introduction of a host of characters and the attempts to create an eerie atmosphere with a droning soundscape. At no point does the viewer feel drawn into the characters or the situations.

Bhavana does her role well and so do the other actors – Chandunath, Anu Mohan, Suresh Kumar, Nandu, Ajmal Ameer, Rahul Madhav, Dain Davis etc. But there are no major takeaways from the film, either in terms of scenes or performances. As the story progresses, you become less and less involved in the film. The plot feels disappointing, especially when the motive behind the woman’s disappearance is revealed.

With the inclusion of elements like parapsychology, ghosts and props that make the film a horror thriller, the script could have had so many layers to give us a gripping narrative. However, that doesn’t happen and even the attempts to create a suspenseful climax miss the mark. Those who like horror thrillers might want to watch the film just once, but don’t expect it to blow your mind.

Hunt is currently in cinemas