- Release Date: 07/05/2024
- Cast: Sharvari, Abhay Verma, Mona Singh, Sathyaraj
- Director: Aditya Sarpotdar
Despite its flaws, “Munjya” stands out for its quirky energy, engaging performances, and solid direction
Munjya is the story of Bittu (Abhay Varma), whose father had fallen victim to a malevolent spirit that happened to be an ancestor of theirs. This spirit was confined to a tree on a plot of land that his family owned and had been there for generations. Bittu’s mother, Pammi (Mona Singh), never told him about this secret, and he grew up to become a sweet and resourceful person who is madly in love with Bella (Sharvari). A chance visit to their ancestral village brings Bittu face-to-face with the evil spirit, which latches onto him and forces him to complete what it had failed to do when it was alive. As Bittu delves deeper into what the spirit wants from him, he realizes that everything he loves and cares for in the world may be at risk. What happens next is what Munjya is all about.
Dinesh Vijan and Amar Kaushik have created a niche for themselves in the horror-comedy genre. Their sense of humour and approach to horror and thrill worked for me in “Stree” and “Bhediya.” “Roohi” was a different story, though. In “Munjya,” they approach the storytelling with the same quirk and energy, which infuses the proceedings with enough vibrancy to sustain the audience’s interest in the story and screenplay for the film’s duration. The film begins briskly and constantly moves from one important plot point to another without ever meandering. This not only ensures that the audience is gripped and intrigued by how the evil will finally be disarmed, but they are also equally worried about the safety and well-being of the characters they have sided with in the story.
This is an important aspect of any horror film. The characters have to be rendered with honesty and impact, and the makers have to ensure that the audience finds a voice in these characters and is forced into a relationship with them. Only then will the horror and thrill elements of the film work. This is where “Munjya” scores again, as it is able to create characters that are very easy to like. The death of a major character right at the beginning of the film proves to the audience that the makers are not afraid to kill off important characters, ensuring that every character is at risk, and adding to the inherent sense of thrill and horror in the film. However, it would be wrong to call this film a horror film, as the horror elements are sparse and not executed all that well. This is more of a thriller with horror as a garnish, and that garnish is not all that alluring.
The comedic elements, however, are spot on. The bulk of the credit for that must go to the funny situations and the quirky dialogues. This is something that the film carries forward throughout. Even during the most horrifying situations, the comedy is never lost on the audience, which helps them stay connected with the narrative even more while also not switching off from its inherent seriousness and thrill.
The actors also play a major role in this aspect of the film. Abhay Verma is practically unknown to me, but his comic timing was spot on and his performance was so lifelike that I immediately struck a chord with him. The film unfolds from his perspective, and hence the success of his character was absolutely crucial for the success of the film as a whole. His camaraderie with the other actors and the effective chemistry he shares with them also contributed immensely to ensuring that his performance was at the core of all that was lovable and impactful about the film.
Not many will point this out, but Taranjot Singh as Spielberg Singh was fantastic. Some scenes are rendered funny just because of how he reacts to them. One needs to see the film to understand what I mean. Mona Singh as the mother of Bittu is great. She knows how to navigate the character as she has had her share of practice with similar characters. Hence, it is no surprise that she powers her way through the essay. Sharvari, the next most recognizable face in the film, justifies her character and portrays it in such a way that it becomes easy to accept her as the character that would inspire a vengeful and malevolent spirit to come after her or her family after generations. There is a nice little twist to this as well in the end that I would not like to reveal here. She looks absolutely stunning and acts just well enough to not spoil the realism and grounded feel of the story.
This brings me to the final aspect of the film that was absolutely necessary for its overall impact: the VFX. Unfortunately, the VFX is not nearly as good as it needed to be in order to ensure that we could take the character of Munjya seriously. This was evidently a budget issue, and unlike in “Bhediya” and “Stree,” where the VFX was used intelligently and was rendered well enough to not merit any complaint, in “Munjya” the VFX-rendered character is present too often and is depicted too openly to escape dissection. There are moments when one gets used to the character, but then something happens that reminds us we are watching a CGI character. The filmmakers needed to find a way around this problem, which would have made the film even more immersive.
One has to give credit to the writers for how they wrote the character of Munjya and the amount of comedy infused into a straight-up malevolent spirit. This almost ensured that the audience was rolling on the floor laughing at some of his actions when they would have otherwise questioned the realism of the VFX rendering the character and how it was impacting the acceptance of the CGI character.
The quality of cinema has gone down so profusely these days that even a film like “Munjya” feels like a breath of fresh air. Yes, while this might sound a little too harsh on the team behind the film, one has to accept that this film would not have been embraced with the kind of enthusiasm it has been today if the Indian film industry and its films were not on the kind of downward spiral into the abyss that they currently are in. Anything that is remotely creative and interesting feels like a breath of fresh air, and that is something working in favour of “Munjya.”
While I enjoyed the film quite a bit, I was also wary of the many flaws that it had, in addition to the pacing issues that interfered with my enjoyment of the film. Having said that, the film deserves our love for treading a different path, having solid performances, good direction, and trying to entertain its audiences to the hilt.
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The fact that Vijan and Kaushik are merging all their horror films into one large story arc, and we will probably soon start seeing crossovers between “Stree,” “Munjya,” “Bhediya,” and even “Roohi,” offers some interesting possibilities for the future. If this in any way enhances this film or the ones coming after it, I will be very glad that I was positive about a flawed but well-spirited and well-intentioned film like “Munjya.”
Rating: 3/5 (3 out of 5 Stars)
The views expressed in this article are that of the reviewer and do not reflect EastMojo’s position.
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