'Chandrika' reminds one of 'Chandramukhi' more often than it would have had it been directed by someone with no 'Chandramukhi' hangover. The male lead is a celebrated painter with a poetic attitude towards his muse (his wife, played by Srimukhi) but he comes across with that expression of a shrewd businessman! To make the matters worse, we end up wondering if there is a rapist side to him as well, going by his easy susceptibility to a seductive pose. A romantic painter he may be, but why should he seem to be so badly vulnerable to beauty at the drop of a hat?
Karthik Jayaram plays Arjun, the artist-husband of Shilpa (Srimukhi), his inspiration. Besides being an artist with no commerce in mind, he is a do-gooder philanthropist. He buys a deserted haveli because it was where his guru had lived. The haveli, expectedly, is a haunted place. The spirit that haunts it is apparently a damsel-atma in distress, singing a romantic song whenever Arjun is taking bath. Shilpa's behaviour grows mysterious and soon Arjun realizes that his wife has been possessed. The second half is about why the spirit wants to teach Arjun a lesson, and how Arjun saves himself and his wife from the trouble.
This dubbed version of a Kannada film by the same title is replete with been-there-done-that elements. After having experienced such spooky elements so many times, the audience would be sick of seeing the characters themselves getting scared. So the fact that there is not much time spent on showing a scared friend or a worried husband helps in a perverted way!
To realize that the story line comes with no novelty at the end of 100 minutes is worse than having to watch an unexciting climax.
So the film essentially is about writing a horror story with an age-old idea revealed in the climax. The climax comes with a stage-managed drama so as to help the spirit understand things for itself (like it was the case with 'Chandramukhi') and the excitement of watching a spirit feel helpless with impotent rage fades away sooner than it sprouts. The CG work needed to be up-to-date at least in the climax. All that we get to watch here is an outmoded fighting scene - so outmoded that even a real-life painter wouldn't want to fight in such a manner even on the worst day of his life.
If you remember all those suggestive, steamy moments more than the spooky stuff, you can't help it. The romance is interspersed with poetry; once, a slew of poetic lines precede a seductive song starring Kamna Jethmalani and Karthik.
Sathyam Rajesh, Tagubothu Ramesh and LB Sriram are seen in small roles. Girish Karnad is seen in the role of a legendary paitner, but the lines he gets to spout are elementary.
The scene where Arjun ends up painting a different woman from what he thought, that is unconsciously, is the only place where the film presents something novel.
The technical aspects pass the muster. If the cinematography is good, the music and BGM could have been better. The art work fits the bill.
Verdict: Chandrika comes with a wafer-think story line. A few novel scenes could have redeemed the film.
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