Movie: Durgamati

Cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Arshad Warsi, Karan Kapadia, Mahie Gill, Jisshu Sengupta

Director: Ashok G

Rating: 1 star (out of 5)

Durgamati: The Myth is a faithful remake of his Telugu hit Bhaagamathie (2018). The film would seem like an unusual conventional attempt to use horror as a vehicle to focus on social ills. The idea would have worked if Ashok had shown a certain amount of imagination in the script and execution.

The officer who transported Chanchal to the black site is not convinced. Chanchal (Bhumi Bidnikar) is an Indian administration officer serving a sentence for the murder of her husband, Shakti (Karan Kapadia). Chanchal used to be the personal secretary of the Messianic Minister Ishwar Prasad (Arshad Warsi). Ishwar criticizes his government for not arresting a gang that steals idols from temples.

CBI Deputy Director Satakshi Ganguly (Mahie Gill) is called in from the ruling party’s side to find some dirt in Ishwar. She enters Ishwar’s former personal secretary, IAS Chanchal Chauhan (Bhumi Pednekar), who is spending his time in prison for gunning down her husband.

He enters Durgamati also Bhumi Pednekar but too melodramatic. Durgamati is the spirit of the dead queen of that ‘haveli’ and like any other horror movie, the spirit is here for some kind of revenge.

Durgamati – The Myth, streamed on Amazon Prime, sells a mix of ghosts, scares, and runoffs that are supposed to instill the fear of God and, inadvertently, the fear of bad cinema in us. I’m not sure I will achieve the former. The latter sure does. It dampens our senses so completely. The 155-minute film is a prolonged blur from whose shallow depths unending and excruciating nonsense emerges.

Durgamati Written and directed by Ashok and starring Bhumi Pednekar, Durgamati is a thrilling and terrifying journey that tells the story of an innocent government official who is the victim of a major conspiracy involving powerful forces. The film is presented by T-Series and Cape of Good Films and is an Abundantia Entertainment production.