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Connect Review: Nayanthara Shines Bright In A Dystopian Drama That Thrives In The Dark

Connect review: the film connects with the audience in substantial ways without having to resort to the kind of in-your-face means that horror films usually foist upon the audience..

Nayanthara in Connect . (courtesy: YouTube )

Cast: Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, Anupam Kher, Vinay Rai

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

Rating: Three stars (out of 5)

A supernatural thriller set in the time of Covid, Ashwin Saravanan's Connect has its share of jump scares as well as other genre tics. But, if you can tide over the ritualistic babble that it culminates in, it isn't one of those predictable, hackneyed horror films that merely seek to shock us out of our seats.

The screenplay, authored by the husband-wife writing team of Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar, alternates between the sombre and the nightmarish. The impact of the range of feelings that the film arouses is heightened significantly by the steady understated power of the lead performance by Nayanthara.

She shines bright in a dystopian drama that thrives in the dark. She uses her eyes and facial expressions rather than shrieks and squeals to convey fear and foreboding as the unknown creeps up on the sorted and unflappable woman she plays.

Connect , produced by Vignesh Sivan's Rowdy Pictures and released nationwide in Hindi a week after the original Tamil version hit the screen, weaves into its story of disease, death, divinity and the devil a complement of unsettling twitches that are triggered by a Covid-related tragedy and girl's response to it.

God and Satan are at war in a world torn asunder by sickness and sorrow. A little girl faces the brunt. A tormented woman fights to save her daughter. A grandfather offers constant advice online. An electronically connected pastor steps in to try and exorcise the evil spirit. Amid all the blather, the film stays firmly focussed on the mother-daughter relationship.

The emotional bond between the two women is thrown into complete disarray by a demonic possession. The script employs the bedevilment as a metaphor for a rampaging, devastating virus. The connect between the two is verbalised by the exorcist himself.

With its loud thuds, persistent knocks on the door, mysterious rumbles, fluttering curtains, flickering lights, eerie shadows in the dark, upturned objects, the works, the 99-minute Connect banks upon all the devices that one would expect in a horror film. Yet it manages to break away at crucial points from the practices ordinarily associated with the spooky business of peddling fear and heightening anxieties.

Connect , which reunites director Saravanan with lead actor Nayanthara after the 2015 neo-noir psychological drama Maya, examines dimensions of loss and grief through an occult phenomenon that that sets off a disquieting chain of events for a quarantining woman, Susan, and her young musician-daughter, Anna.

The pandemic and the lockdown have taken their toll on both. But the nature of the impact on the two isn't the same. The mother, to begin with, seems completely unperturbed by the crisis that hits her - and the world at large. The daughter, severely distressed, goes into a shell, an act that renders her vulnerable to a Satanic invasion.

Talking of an invasion, the possession of a human by the devil is akin in Connect to a home invasion by a hostile force from another world. Disease is a demon, and vice-versa, and it pushes Anna into an abyss from where only an exorcist can rescue her.

The two women are in separate rooms but the changes that Anna undergoes send ripples not only through the entire house in which they isolate themselves from the world and from each other, but also through the spaces that Susan's father Arthur (Sathyaraj) and a pastor-exorcist (Anupam Kher) occupy.

Connect is Saravanan's third directorial venture. He has established himself as a genre filmmaker with a distinct, novel style marked by keen empathy for women fighting off hurtful forces. In Maya, a single mother who works in ad films to make ends meet is haunted by a ghost.

In Game Over (2019), starring Taapsee Pannu, the heroine is a talented game developer grappling with PTSD, a direct consequence of a horrific rape.

In Connect , Saravanan portrays two women - one a mid-career professional in a position of authority, the other a gifted young girl looking forward to making a career as a musician. The latter's youthful hurry to branch out on her own creates friction between her and her mother, who is firm in her belief that the girl must complete her education before leaving home to pursue her dream.

Saravanan, with the aid of cinematographer Manikantan Krishnamachary, engages visuals, an interplay light and shade, skewed camera angles and movements and sound effects to conjure up an atmosphere of great unease and dread.

The film's early scenes, which are happy and filled with warmth as the family vacations in Goa, quickly give way to intimations of the dangers up ahead. The pandemic, and the lockdown that it necessitates, yanks Anna's doting dad, Dr. Joseph Benoy (Vinay Rai), away from the family because the hospital needs him to be on duty 24X7.

The characters from here on are unable to make physical contact with each other. They converse on Zoom calls. The restrictions on physical interactions inevitably lead to unnerving distancing and disorientation. The doctor can connect with his wife and child only through digital means. Anna, the youngest, is the worst affected by the sudden forced separation.

Susan and Anna are suspected to be Covid-positive. As they await their test reports, they isolate within the house while they keep in touch with the girl's grandfather. Susan and her dad soon begin to feel that something is seriously wrong with Anna. They seek help on her behalf.

Nayanthara stellar performance is supported admirably by Sathyaraj and Anupam Kher. Newcomer Haniya Nafisa, cast in the challenging role of a girl possessed, is no less impressive.

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When the confrontation between the devout and the diabolic reaches a crescendo, the pitch of the film is amped up considerably. Connect is never, however, in danger of drowning in shrillness because at all other times, the director does not budge from his controlled and muted methods to tell a story that vacillates between the real and the spectral.

Connect connects with the audience in substantial ways without having to resort to the kind of in-your-face means that horror films usually foist upon the audience.

Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, Anupam Kher, Vinay Rai

Ashwin Saravanan

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Connect review: Nayanthara’s film offers unadulterated horror experience

Connect review: nayanthara is her earnest best in the film, but it truly belongs to haniya nafisa..

Ashwin Saravanan is fast evolving as one of the most exciting filmmakers with a voice and style of his own. After making a strong mark with films such as Maya and Game Over, he reunites with Nayanthara for his latest outing, Connect. The film is unarguably one of the best horror films to come out of Tamil cinema. Unlike most horror films, Connect doesn’t rely too much on jump scares but it strongly believes in offering an unadulterated horror experience. The film is truly one of its kind as it manages to generate thrills without banking upon the usual horror cliches. (Also Read | Connect trailer: Anupam Kher makes Nayanthara perform exorcism on her possessed daughter in horror film without interval )

The film opens in a beachside shack and we are introduced to a beautiful family. The teenage daughter Anna (Haniya Nafisa) is passionate about music and wants to pursue it by enrolling in Trinity College of London. The father (Vinay) is supportive of Anna’s interest and persuades her to chase her dream. However, the mother (Nayanthara) feels she can’t leave without completing her formal education. The entire conversation is happening 24 hours before the national lockdown. Cut to the next scene, the lockdown is announced with the widespread Covid-19. Nayanthara and her daughter are stuck together for the next 21 days. A few days into the lockdown, both the mother and daughter test positive for the virus and they begin to quarantine themselves. However, the daughter starts experiencing weird symptoms, and her grandfather (Sathyaraj), who is in touch with his daughter via video calls, is convinced that she’s not alright. Their fears come true when they learn that Anna is possessed, and Nayanthara has to deal with the situation all alone.

Connect, as a horror film, is never in a hurry to impress the viewer with jump scares. It takes its time to build the mood and tone which really makes the overall experience unbelievably immersive. Both the visuals and the sound play a key role in making Connect a unique horror film. Since it’s a lockdown thriller that happens in a single location, all the conversations between the characters happen via digital screens. The cinematography is almost like a first-person shooter game because you feel like you’re in the house when the camera moves around. This style of shooting also makes the jump-scare moments truly inventive. There’s a terrific scene where Sathyaraj is trying to explain to Nayanthara that her daughter is possessed, but she’s not convinced. It’s one of the best scenes in the film. Most scenes are shot with the help of limited light and the output is truly pathbreaking.

Nayanthara is her earnest best in Connect, but the film truly belongs to debutante Haniya Nafisa, who has some demanding scenes when she’s possessed. This is a remarkable debut for her. Sathyaraj and Vinay have important cameos and they play their parts very convincingly. Anupam Kher shines in a small but very effective cameo. The music and cinematography play a very key role in making Connect an exceptionally good cinematic experience.

Film: Connect

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

Cast: Nayanthara, Haniya Nafisa, Anupam Kher, Sathyaraj and Vinay

• Anupam Kher

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'Connect' movie review: Delivers some chills, but misses out on a lot more

From what we’ve seen of Ashwin Saravanan, it is clear that the filmmaker doesn’t really go for the low-hanging fruits when making genre films. In his fascinating debut, Maya, the addition of the ‘movie within a movie’ trope made it all the more interesting. Similarly, in his intriguing sophomore, Game Over, the ‘you are not playing the game, you are the game’ trope made it all the more engaging. So, one can’t really be faulted for expecting his latest, Connect, to be more than just an exercise in exorcism. Although Connect starts strongly with a bright tale freefalling into the depths of darkness, courtesy of the pandemic, the film sparingly hits the high notes of the genre while just about managing past the finish line.

Ashwin introduces the protagonists —a lived-in couple Susan (Nayanthara) and Joseph (Vinay Rai), their daughter Anna (Haniya Nafisa), and Susan’s father Arthur (Sathyaraj)— on a holiday, with a breezy song, which betrays a sense of melancholy. We are just a day or two ahead of the nationwide lockdown, and Joseph is a doctor who is asked to return to the hospital to take care of the never-ending crowd of patients. Tragedy strikes the family as Joseph joins the list of the many frontline workers who sacrificed their lives for the safety of the world. An already strained equation between Susan and Anna becomes even worse, and then, we start dealing with a heady mix of seances, possessions, purgations, and of course, exorcisms.

There is no doubt that the buildup to the exorcism in Connect boasts of a few effective scares. It might not be the ones that make us watch the film through our fingers, but it definitely does enough to keep us on the edge of our seats. Even though the type of scares and the timing of it too feel predictable, the usage of electronic screens allows editing transitions to be a novel affair. Whenever the screen goes to pitch black, or the internet connection goes cold and the screen starts buffering, there is a definite increase in adrenaline. Although, we have seen this style of narrative in films like Searching, and C U Soon, Ashwin and his team smartly find a way around the compact nature of the medium to give us a non-claustrophobic feeling. While this does rob us of the tension that pervades through such films, Connect tries its best to achieve this with a constant tussle between the idea of loneliness and seeking help.

Be it in Naane Varuvean earlier this year or Connect, it is interesting how therapy and not exorcism is the first step towards helping the child in trouble. What happens after therapy might not fit into the rationale of scientific thinking, but the normalisation of the treatment is a pertinent reflection of the changing times. Even the Father who comes for a diagnosis of Anna’s predicament says the illness could be one that requires therapy or one that requires a spiritual intervention. However, the film falters a lot when it comes to establishing the urgency of the possession and its after-effects. Surprisingly, Connect really works on the comedy front, and full points for mixing a few laughs amidst all those scares without becoming yet another ‘horror-comedy’ film that is churned out dime-a-dozen from Tamil cinema.

This disconnect stems from the rather stilted acceptance of Susan about the turmoil in her life after the possession of her daughter. Nayanthara plays Susan with an alarming lack of urgency that is so disconcerting. How does she not feel petrified every living moment after seeing her daughter do demonic things? How does she not feel shaken to her core after being ‘chokeslammed’ by her daughter? The emotional distance between us and Susan is perplexing, and it is odd that even Anna’s predicament doesn’t really move us. We are invested in the scares and not the ones who are going through literal horrors. And even the immersive cinematography (Manikantan Krishnamachary), spine-chilling music (Prithvi Chandrasekhar), and brilliant sound design doesn’t help us throw all our weight behind the travails of Susan and Anna.

Connect really feels underwhelming simply because Ashwin, and his co-writer Kaavya Ramkumar, have set the bar really high. The film is underwhelming because we have seen the beats before, and yet our heart anticipates much more. At one point, early in the film, when we see frontline workers making the ultimate sacrifice, one can’t help but think how a lot of them have been almost forgotten now by the majority.

We have so adapted to the post-pandemic world that Connect almost feels like Ashwin and Kaavya reminding us of a rather grim time in the not-so-faraway past of human history. With a brief sojourn into the idea of loneliness, Connect really works in the space where it nudges us to reflect on our own lives during the pandemic. However, when it comes to the horror elements, Connect betrays a sense of superficiality. There is a considerable amount of spook, and a sense of ingenuity, for sure, but Ashwin Saravanan has raised the bar to a decent high that we don’t walk into his films just to be satisfied for a few frights, some gimmicks, and half a heart.

Film: Connect Director: Ashwin Saravanan Cast: Nayanthara, Vinay Rai, Sathyaraj, Nafisa Haniya

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In a country where the government imposed a national curfew and a single mother, Nayanthara, notices eerie changes in her daughter's behaviour. On getting virtual help from a pastor played b... Read all In a country where the government imposed a national curfew and a single mother, Nayanthara, notices eerie changes in her daughter's behaviour. On getting virtual help from a pastor played by Anupam Kher who proposes an online exorcism. In a country where the government imposed a national curfew and a single mother, Nayanthara, notices eerie changes in her daughter's behaviour. On getting virtual help from a pastor played by Anupam Kher who proposes an online exorcism.

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'Connect' review: This Nayanthara-starrer scares all right

Connect is Nayanthara's second film after Maya with director Ashwin Saravanan

Connect begins by a beach, as waves crash the shore. Somebody is strumming a guitar, and a girl – Ammu aka Anna, played by Haniya Nafisa – is heard humming a tune. Meen kannadi thottikkul thedum oar kadale vazhava meaning 'life for a fish who is searching for the ocean inside an aquarium'.

As she sings, her parents Susan, played by Nayanthara, and Joseph Benoy, played by Vinay Rai, talk about her going to the London Trinity College to learn music. Her father and mother disagree. Joseph, a doctor, gets a call from the hospital and gets to work. It is the Covid outbreak and Joseph works 24x7, without going back home. He begins treating Covid patients. Susan and Ammu get confined inside the four walls of their house. The three connect through Zoom and online calls. Susan’s father Arthur Samuel, played by Sathyaraj, too connects with them over the phone. Soon, Joseph dies of Covid. Ammu who is attached to her father, becomes distraught. To overcome her loneliness, she tries to reach out to him through an ouija board. Whether she meets her father, what happens to Ammu and how does Susan deal with it all, forms the rest of the story.

Nayanthara is once again at her best in delivering whatever the director wanted. The fear in her eyes - sometimes as she looks for her daughter in a dark room, or when she turns the cross that is upside down, or when she prays while being terrified – is palpable. While it is her second film after Maya with director Ashwin Saravanan, for the latter it is his fourth - three of which have been horror flicks. Connect often gets scary, thanks especially to Nafisa's brilliant portrayal of Ammu.

Most of the shots are in dark rooms, the only light coming from the candles.

With the film revolving around the three characters, in the backdrop of the lockdown, 99 minutes might seem long.

Film: Connect

Language: Tamil

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

Cast: Nayanthara, Anupam Kher, Sathyaraj and others

Rating: 3/5

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Home » Reviews » South Indian Movie Reviews

Connect Movie Review: Nayanthara Leads A Good Experiment With Idea & Technique But Suffers A Draught Of Emotions

One cannot ignore how predictable it becomes in parts..

Star Cast: Nayanthara, Haniya Nafisa, Sathya Raj, Anupam Kher, Vinay Rai & ensemble.

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

What’s Good: The idea of the movie and the world it decides to set it into. Also, how technically sound it is.

What’s Bad: It chooses to only scratch the surface and suffocates in its own constraints.

Loo Break: Nothing so bad that it puts you off till a point you ignore. But you can if it can’t wait because there are predictable bits too.

Watch or Not?: I would suggest waiting for its OTT release since you aren’t missing anything big if you miss it in the theatres.

Language: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & Hindi (with subtitles).

Available On: In Theatres Near You.

Runtime: 105 Minutes

A mother (Nayanthara) and her daughter (Haniya) are tested positive for COVID-19 after the demise of her husband. In Quarantine the daughter decides to summon her father’s spirit to talk to him and ends up opening a gate for a demon instead. A ghost and the quarantine become a deadly match quite literally.

Connect Movie Review: Script Analysis

Going forward as we live in the post-pandemic world with its effect still feeling strong (God this feels like talking about the Thanos Blip), it is going to be an interesting thing to see how filmmakers see it and how they weave stories around it while reflecting on the time we as a collective went through. Few weeks ago Madhur Bhandarkar released his take with India Lockdown , an unfiltered yet confused take on the phase. Now comes in Connect, a whole new idea and one that has a lot of mettle.

Written by Ramkumar Kaavya and Ashwin Saravanan, Connect is a story so fresh that you can relate to it because most of us have been imprisoned in our own houses in the past two years. Now, what if one of the members was possessed by a spirit and there is no way you can get out of the house? There is a whole lot of substance and power in this idea which the two even partially explore.

The biggest hurdle is to create a perspective. Who exactly is watching this unfold in a house with two participants? So the makers take the Searching or C U Soon route where the majority of the movie takes place through Zoom calls. So the person on the other side of the call is your window into the world. The movie is technically very sound. It uses every possible thing about the Zoom ecosystem to create intrigue. Be it the recording, the buffers that the network creates, or even the noise that it quickly catches. One can see the efforts.

Talking about the haunting part of it might take away the fun. But one cannot ignore how predictable it becomes when it solely gets into that space. This draws your attention to the lack of emotions. For a story about a parent about to lose their child has no emphasis on it or doesn’t let that angle breathe at all. Rather there is a melodramatic scene that lands nowhere followed by an exorcism attempt that we have seen in multiple films. Even the world-building beyond the conflict is weak because it appears like done to just fill a void and give the characters an identity.

Connect Movie Review: Star Performance

Nayanthara is very invested in telling this story and the fact that she is craving some new experiences is evident with the fact that this is much different than her latest outings. The actor tries her level best to make this character work but the aforementioned emotional draught affects her arc too.

Haniya Nafisa plays the possessed daughter is amazing for a debutant. She manages to irk you and even scare you a bit with her few out of the blue. Sathya Raj adds a whole lot of melodrama to the film which does feel like a misfit at points.

Anupam Kher’s performance though is the weakest of the lot. It feels like he was hired the same day he shot because he is literally reading everything out of a paper kept behind the camera. At least it looks like that. He never becomes the character.

Connect Movie Review: Direction, Music

Ashwin Saravanan does walk into this one with a very ambitious vision and one can see it through how he envisions and plots the entire narrative. But only the main conflict will never land well if the world is not built as a whole and with the same conviction.

DOP Manikantan Krishnamachary does have a tough job in hand and he does it well to an extent that idea of watching the film through screens lands well. The background score is apt and good.

Connect Movie Review: The Last Word

Connect is a great idea that deserved much more than just good technique.

Connect Trailer

Connect releases on 22nd December, 2022.

Share with us your experience of watching Connect.

For more recommendations, read our Ammu Movie Review here.

Must Read: Naane Varuvean Movie Review: Dhanush Starrer Neither Promises Nor Delivers, Just Exists With No Purpose

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Connect (U/A) 22/Dec/2022 Horror, Thriller 99mins

Critics Review

Very old wine tried to be put in a new bottle.

A technically rich film with an unique approach style. But the core essence is extremely disappointing as there�s nothing to specify as a story. Also, the happenings are as familiar as it can be for a horror movie. (more)

Source: Ashwin Ram, MovieCrow

A horror film with connectivity issues

The jump scares are quite convincing, and the dramatic presentation of the demon works to a certain extent. The major drawback is the content. Everyone knows that Ashwin can convincingly pull off horror genre films, as he has done it before. But then, it's also his responsibility to write a script that creates some sort of "connection" with the viewers. It's okay to write a script without any backstory for the dead or the evil, but then there needs to be a revelation connecting all the dots. (more)

Source: Logesh Balachandran, Times Of India

Nayanthara shines in technically brilliant horror thriller that is regular fare

Connect is based on the strong connection between a father and daughter, as well as Internet connectivity, obviously. We wish though that Ashwin had focused more on the mother-daughter bond as well as they are the ones who take the story forward and hold us throughout the film. Hence, in this case, emotional investment becomes limited, and the film enters the horror genre like The Exorcist or The Conjuring. Connect, unfortunately, just didn�t have enough thrills - like those films - to be classified as a pure horror film either. (more)

Source: Latha Srinivasan, India Today

Nayanthara's film offers unadulterated horror experience

Nayanthara is her earnest best in Connect, but the film truly belongs to debutante Haniya Nafisa, who has some demanding scenes when she�s possessed. This is a remarkable debut for her. Sathyaraj and Vinay have important cameos and they play their parts very convincingly. Anupam Kher shines in a small but very effective cameo. The music and cinematography play a very key role in making Connect an exceptionally good cinematic experience. (more)

Source: Haricharan Pudipeddi, Hindustan Times

Quite pedestrian by Ashwin Saravanan's standards

Don�t get me wrong. The movie is not shot on a smartphone. It�s just that the smartphone camera�s gaze acts as the primary camera with which we see the drama unfolding. For a horror movie, the possibilities are endless. This is a brilliant move by the filmmaker. Because the characters use smartphones to communicate with each other and to show what�s happening in the house, we get a feeling that Connect is downloading right in front of our eyes. Another brilliant move is to do away with the intermission (its runtime is 99 minutes). Which makes the buffering seamless. (more)

Source: Srivatsan, The Hindu

Nayanthara's latest is technically sound, true-blue genre film

The biggest achievement of Ashwin Saravanan�s Connect lies in how, despite being a horror film, it is in touch with reality. While it�s true that cinema is seen as an escapist medium to forget the woes of the real world, there has been a total disconnect between the existing pandemic world and that of our Tamil mainstream films. Connect, living up to its name, finally bridges that gap by empathising with the ones who suffered during the pandemic. It takes us back to the times when we were confined to the four walls of our homes, fearing a threat we couldn�t fully fathom. Undoubtedly, it is in a sense triggering to see the character go through the same ordeal as we did, but it is also in a way cathartic. Again, it is pretty amusing that of all kinds of Tamil mainstream cinema, a true-blue genre has represented the ones that are still grieving. (more)

Source: Kirubhakar Purushothaman , Indian Express

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Connect Movie Review: Delivers some chills, but misses out on a lot more

Rating: ( 2.5 / 5).

From what we’ve seen of Ashwin Saravanan, it is clear that the filmmaker doesn’t really go for the low-hanging fruits when making genre films. In his fascinating debut, Maya , the addition of the ‘movie within a movie’ trope made it all the more interesting. Similarly, in his intriguing sophomore, Game Over , the ‘you are not playing the game, you are the game’ trope made it all the more engaging. So, one can’t really be faulted for expecting his latest, Connect , to be more than just an exercise in exorcism. Although Connect starts strongly with a bright tale freefalling into the depths of darkness, courtesy of the pandemic, the film sparingly hits the high notes of the genre while just about managing past the finish line.

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

Cast: Nayanthara, Vinay Rai, Sathyaraj, Nafisa Haniya

Ashwin introduces the protagonists —a lived-in couple Susan (Nayanthara) and Joseph (Vinay Rai), their daughter Anna (Haniya Nafisa), and Susan’s father Arthur (Sathyaraj)— on a holiday, with a breezy song, which betrays a sense of melancholy. We are just a day or two ahead of the nationwide lockdown, and Joseph is a doctor who is asked to return to the hospital to take care of the never-ending crowd of patients. Tragedy strikes the family as Joseph joins the list of the many frontline workers who sacrificed their lives for the safety of the world. An already strained equation between Susan and Anna becomes even worse, and then, we start dealing with a heady mix of seances, possessions, purgations, and of course, exorcisms.

There is no doubt that the buildup to the exorcism in Connect boasts of a few effective scares. It might not be the ones that make us watch the film through our fingers, but it definitely does enough to keep us on the edge of our seats. Even though the type of scares and the timing of it too feel predictable, the usage of electronic screens allows editing transitions to be a novel affair. Whenever the screen goes to pitch black, or the internet connection goes cold and the screen starts buffering, there is a definite increase in adrenaline. Although, we have seen this style of narrative in films like Searching , and C U Soon , Ashwin and his team smartly find a way around the compact nature of the medium to give us a non-claustrophobic feeling. While this does rob us of the tension that pervades through such films, Connect tries its best to achieve this with a constant tussle between the idea of loneliness and seeking help.

Be it in Naane Varuvean earlier this year or Connect , it is interesting how therapy and not exorcism is the first step towards helping the child in trouble. What happens after therapy might not fit into the rationale of scientific thinking, but the normalisation of the treatment is a pertinent reflection of the changing times. Even the Father who comes for a diagnosis of Anna’s predicament says the illness could be one that requires therapy or one that requires a spiritual intervention. However, the film falters a lot when it comes to establishing the urgency of the possession and its after-effects. Surprisingly, Connect really works on the comedy front, and full points for mixing a few laughs amidst all those scares without becoming yet another ‘horror-comedy’ film that is churned out dime-a-dozen from Tamil cinema.

This disconnect stems from the rather stilted acceptance of Susan about the turmoil in her life after the possession of her daughter. Nayanthara plays Susan with an alarming lack of urgency that is so disconcerting. How does she not feel petrified every living moment after seeing her daughter do demonic things? How does she not feel shaken to her core after being 'chokeslammed' by her daughter? The emotional distance between us and Susan is perplexing, and it is odd that even Anna’s predicament doesn’t really move us. We are invested in the scares and not the ones who are going through literal horrors. And even the immersive cinematography (Manikantan Krishnamachary), spine-chilling music (Prithvi Chandrasekhar), and brilliant sound design doesn’t help us throw all our weight behind the travails of Susan and Anna.

Connect really feels underwhelming simply because Ashwin, and his co-writer Kaavya Ramkumar, have set the bar really high. The film is underwhelming because we have seen the beats before, and yet our heart anticipates much more. At one point, early in the film, when we see frontline workers making the ultimate sacrifice, one can’t help but think how a lot of them have been almost forgotten now by the majority. We have so adapted to the post-pandemic world that Connect almost feels like Ashwin and Kaavya reminding us of a rather grim time in the not-so-faraway past of human history. With a brief sojourn into the idea of loneliness, Connect really works in the space where it nudges us to reflect on our own lives during the pandemic. However, when it comes to the horror elements, Connect betrays a sense of superficiality. There is a considerable amount of spook, and a sense of ingenuity, for sure, but Ashwin Saravanan has raised the bar to a decent high that we don’t walk into his films just to be satisfied for a few frights, some gimmicks, and half a heart.  

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• Home » Movies » Connect Movie Review

Connect review: Watch this horror film for debutante Haniya Nafisa

While Nayanthara is okayish as a mother, Sathyaraj and Anupam Kher were convincing in their respective roles.

Published:Dec 21, 2022

Nayanthara's 'Connect' marks her second collaboration with director Ashwin Saravanan after their super hit flick 'Maya'. (UV_Creations/Twitter)

Technical aspects elevate a routine story.

Connect (Telugu)

• Cast: Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, Anupam Kher, Vinay Rai, and Haniya Nafisa
• Director: Ashwin Saravanan
• Producer: Vignesh Shivan
• Music: Prithvi Chandrasekhar
• Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
• Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Emraan Hashmi, and Revathy
• Director: Maneesh Sharma
• Producer: Aditya Chopra
• Music: Pritam Chakraborty
• Runtime: 2 hours 35 minutes

Nayanthara’s multilingual horror flick Connect is releasing in theatres this weekend, on 22 December. It is taking on biggies like Ravi Teja’s Dhamaka and Vishal’s Laththi at the box office.

Does this horror flick, which rides solely on Nayanthara’s popularity, have enough substance to connect with the audience? Let’s find out in our review:

A teenage girl Anne (Haniya Nafisa) is taken over by an evil spirit when she attempts to speak to her late doctor-father using an Ouija Board. The father had succumbed to Covid during the lockdown.

Anne’s mother Susan (Nayanthara) and grandfather Arthur (Sathyaraj) are worried about her and seek the help of Father Augustine (Anupam Kher).

Father Augustine decides to use exorcism to free Anne from her demons. But he warns Susan and Arthur that it will be a tough one. Since there is a lockdown, he does the exorcism online, which makes things difficult.

How he performs the exorcism to save Anne from her demon forms the main plot of the movie.

Gripping narration makes up for routine story

The audiences have seen enough movies where a character is under the spell of the evil spirit and the kith and kin make efforts to drive them away. Exorcism is not new to horror movie lovers, and Connect is no exception. In fact, several shots and tricks in the film remind us of past horror movies.

Despite the cliches, director Ashwin Saravanan — who also wrote the script — has succeeded in engaging the audience with his narration. Though there are some dull moments, most of the movie is gripping.

Haniya Nafisa shines in her acting debut

‘Connect’, yet another h horror thriller from Ashwin Saravanan, has no intermission. (UV_Creations/Twitter)

Connect got all its attention due to the presence of star heroine Nayanthara. But it is Haniya Nafisa who shines in this flick.

Singer and social media influencer Haniya Nafisa has made her acting debut with this horror film. She impresses with her performance as a girl under the influence of a demon.

Nayanthara plays the role of her mother — and she is okay.

Anupam Kher and Sathyaraj play key roles. With their vast experience, they prove that roles like these are a cakewalk for them.

Technical crafts elevate a regular story

Most of the film is shot indoors and cinematographer Manikantan Krishnamachary has done a good job, within the limits of the storyline.

It is a good decision and also an experimental one to keep the movie limited to 99 minutes. The makers decided to screen the film without an intermission. It is to be seen how this experiment fares.

The shorter runtime ensures that the momentum does not dip. Editor Richard Kevin did a notable job.

Music director Prithvi Chandrashekhar adds to the impact with an impressive background score.

Connect is a horror movie based on exorcism and it gets its popularity from Nayanthara’s presence. But Haniya Nafisa leads the movie.

In a nutshell, it is strictly for horror movie lovers!

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• Entertainment
• film review
• Movie review
• Telugu film industry

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At Cannes, Indian Filmmakers Show There Is More Than Just Bollywood

This year’s edition of the annual film festival features a prominent presence of Indian stories and storytellers that celebrates the country’s independent cinema.

By Nicolas Rapold

For the first time in 30 years at the Cannes Film Festival, an Indian film will compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition, alongside new movies from Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos and Andrea Arnold .

The dry spell might come as a surprise for a country with film industries in multiple regions producing hundreds of films per year, including international sensations like last year’s Oscar-nominated “RRR.”

But the inclusion of “All We Imagine as Light,” directed by Payal Kapadia, reflects a growing recognition of the independent cinema made in the shadow of the country’s mainstream hits.

Thierry Frémaux, the artistic director of Cannes, noted the new generations of filmmakers in India when he announced the lineup in April. These movies offer what the critic Namrata Joshi calls “a young, probing, and provoking gaze at Indian reality.” Indian publications have celebrated the country’s prominent presence at the festival, whose inaugural edition in 1946 included a film from India, Chetan Anand’s “Neecha Nagar,” in its grand prize category.

“All We Imagine as Light” joins a generally notable selection of Indian stories and storytellers across this year’s edition, which begins on Tuesday. Santosh Sivan will be the first Indian filmmaker to receive the Pierre Angénieux prize for career achievement in cinematography, and in the Un Certain Regard competition, Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh” follows a widow who takes on her husband’s policeman post.

In Directors’ Fortnight, a parallel program during Cannes, Karan Kandhari’s “Sister Midnight” portrays a defiant newly married woman who seeks vengeance. And in ACID (Association for the Distribution of Independent Cinema) — a parallel program at Cannes devoted to independent film — an Indian feature will screen for the first time, “In Retreat,” directed by Maisam Ali.

“It’s great because quite often we don’t have so many films from India represented in this way at Cannes,” Kapadia said in an interview from Paris where she was putting finishing touches on her film.

Centering on two roommates, “All We Imagine as Light” is, Kapadia says, “about women who’ve come to Mumbai to work.” She returns to Cannes after winning best documentary in 2021 for her university-set reflection on love and protest, “A Night of Knowing Nothing.” But independent Indian productions can face a long road to screens at home because of domestic funding challenges and markets more accustomed to mainstream fare.

“If you want to do something that’s a little experimental, it becomes challenging to find funding,” Kapadia said. “There are a few funds, but it’s a really big country and there are a lot of people.”

Despite the obstacles, Indian films of modest budgets and artistic ambition have won awards abroad recently in major festivals like Sundance, “All That Breathes” in 2022; Rotterdam, “Pebbles” in 2021; and Venice, “The Disciple” in 2020.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York opened a 2022 showcase of independent movies from India by proclaiming: “Indian cinema’s diversity has been energized by a growing number of impressive independent works.” And documentaries have especially garnered the spotlight recently with Academy Award nominations, including “All That Breathes” and “Writing with Fire,” despite having no consistent theatrical distribution within India.

“I think the spirit of independent films in India has always been strong,” Deepti DCunha, artistic director of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, said. “But very few people have the access and they can find it difficult to get their movies seen anywhere.”

What’s helped many Indian filmmakers are co-productions with European countries, and the chance to get exposure to potential producers at the annual Film Bazaar, an event in Goa with a curated market for Indian films, producers and programmers visiting from abroad, and work-in-progress labs. But another nexus for a recent generation of independent filmmakers is film school. The Film and Television Institute of India (F.T.I.I.) in Pune, which Kapadia attended, is one such bastion, as is Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.

“The F.T.I.I. has provided an indefatigable supply of not only technicians in terms of editors, sound people, D.O.P.s [directors of photography] and so on, but also directors,” Shaunak Sen, who directed “All That Breathes,” said in an interview from Delhi.

Sen counts himself lucky: his film about two brothers running a bird clinic in Delhi went to Sundance, Cannes and the Oscars, and was picked up by HBO. But he sees what independent filmmakers can face in India, “where you know you’re staring at this mammoth industry of Bollywood, working in a tiny nook, and trying to will a film into existence.”

Kapadia’s film was in development since late 2018, taking time to find funding. She was writing the script for “All We Imagine as Light” while she was still making her documentary “A Night of Knowing Nothing.” The F.T.I.I. was central to Kapadia’s career, and where she met her partner, whom she also works with, and other “go-to film companions.”

But an international connection was important: She worked on both films with a young French company, learning together as they moved from small documentary production to a sometimes 80-person crew for “All We Imagine as Light.” (“Big crew, small film!” she said with a laugh.) The French co-production also had support from the Netherlands through the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which supports filmmakers across the globe at various stages of creating their movies.

“The independent film industry in Europe is really well designed. They support you at every stage,” Kapadia said, listing off grants for script writing, production, postproduction and distribution.

She mused what it would be like if India could adopt the French system of levying taxes on ticket sales that can be used to support independent filmmaking. (She’s not alone in wondering: An editorial in the Indian Express said Kapadia’s inclusion offered “an opportunity to introspect on why it has taken three decades for a film from one of the world’s top film-producing nations to once again make it to this eminent stage.”)

These are the challenges that filmmakers like Kapadia must master, not just to make their movies but to find audiences. Programmers at international festivals can help with encouraging independent voices, viewing works in progress in India or through links.

In the case of the ACID selection, “In Retreat,” the filmmaker Ali (another F.T.I.I. graduate) submitted the film, which was one of hundreds considered by the programming team. Shot in the high-altitude Ladakh region, it’s the story of a middle-aged man trying to return home to a mountain town for his brother’s funeral.

“I didn’t know the director was young, because when you see the film, it’s incredibly deep, really mature,” Pamela Varela, one of ACID’s programmers, said, before bestowing the highest auteurist compliment. “This is really a film by someone. You see it from the first sequence, which is amazing.”

The up-and-coming generations of Indian independent filmmakers share a willingness to experiment formally and, outside of the demands of a studio and mass market, might have more freedom to confront political issues of inequality or caste, for example. “Especially if it’s a French co-production,” Kapadia said with a smile. “They are very much for free speech, so they are quite supportive of whatever you want to do.”

These filmmakers find kinship both at home and abroad. Kapadia compared making films to “making a quilt, a craft” and mentioned the Indian filmmakers Yashaswini Raghunandan and Ekta Mittal.

Like cinephiles globally, filmmakers are in tune with directors from across the world, though Sen also cited the particular “neighborly” bond with other South Asian cinemas that reflect a postcolonial modernity.

When it comes to the independent “new wave,” though, don’t call it a comeback: By all accounts, the talent was always there. Cannes just presents a dazzlingly bright spotlight and opportunity.

“I don’t think it is that we have recently seen a new wave in talent,” DCunha said. “It’s more that now Europe is paying attention, or America’s paying attention.”

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‘Star’ Review: Kavin, Elan’s coming-of-age film falls short of excellence

Director elan’s much-awaited film, ‘star’, starring kavin, lal and aaditi phankar, is a coming-of-age movie about a youngster who aspires to become an actor. the struggles and the curveballs that life throws at him are what ‘star’ is all about. read our review..

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• Director Elan and actor Kavin's 'Star' released in theatres on May 10
• The coming-of-age film is about a youngster who aspires to become an actor
• The film, despite having potential to be an excellent film, has some shortcomings

Release Date: 10 May, 2024

2024 has been particularly dull for Tamil cinema. Except for one of two, none of the movies that hit theatres managed to create an impact. However, Kavin’s ‘Star’ was one such film, which piqued everyone’s curiosity, thanks to Yuvan Shankar Raja’s killer music and the brilliantly cut trailer. Will director Elan manage to impress the audience again after his debut film, ‘Pyaar Prema Kadhal’? Let’s find out!

Kalai (Kavin) loves cinema and the influence comes from his supportive father (Lal), who is a photographer. From selling tickets to Thalaivar Rajinikanth’s films to taking photos with cut-outs of him, Vijay and Ajith, Kalai does everything that a cinephile and an aspiring actor would do. He also goes to an engineering college to know that cinema is his true love, much like many youngsters.

He starts working towards it with great support from his family (except his mother), friends and girlfriend. When he gets an inch closer to achieving his dream, life throws a curveball at him. This destroys his confidence and takes him away from the cinema. How he re-discovers his zeal and runs towards his dream forms the story.

The coming-of-age film by director Elan chronicles Kalai’s life from 1989 to 2015 and beyond that. Elan’s story is so relatable as we would have all come across that one friend who hails from a middle-class background but wants to make it big in cinema. And it’s still so fascinating as cinema is one of the prime modes of entertainment. It is because of these factors that ‘Star’ generated positive buzz months before its release.

However, ‘Star’ remains superficial despite having so much potential. The struggles that Kalai goes through don’t linger. The screenplay feels rushed, and it jumps from one emotional scene to another without giving the audience time to process it. That said, certain moments in ‘Star’ do grab your attention. Be it Kalai and his father’s camaraderie or his banter with his mother (Geetha Kailasam), the emotions are conveyed beautifully. The portions where Kalai goes to an acting school in Mumbai add much-needed gravitas to his struggle.

The main grouse with ‘Star’ is that the story meanders to a different tangent in the second half, which gives in to many clichés. While the first half stays true to the genre and Kavin’s dream, the second half lags because of this tonal shift. While it's justified that it is also Kalai’s struggle, it subverts the feeling it created in the first half.

After a while, the struggles become superficial. We get to see the Kalai’s problems in familial life and mental health, but not how the cinema industry functions, especially when a newcomer is trying to break in without solid backing.

The makers of ‘Star’ promised three surprises in the film. And all the three surprises become our favourite moments in the film. They become proper theatrical comments, which would evoke apllause and screams.

Kavin’s performance as Kalai works well for ‘Star’. It is mostly effective and also shows he has improved as a performer. It is Lal, who plays Pandian, who has our hearts with his act. Preity Mukundhan, who played Meera Malarkodi, has a great screen presence and her chemistry with Kavin is laudable.

Aaditi Pohankar does the classic ‘loosu ponnu’ (read: bubbly naïve girl) role with much conviction. She also scores in some of the emotional sequences.

Composer Yuvan Shankar Raja is the backbone of ‘Star’. His songs and background music elevate the film in many places. While they work as a standalone album, sometimes, his music forces us to feel the emotion. Cinematographer Ezhil Arasu’s frames took us back to the 90s and 2000s. Editing by Pradeep E Ragav complimented the vision of the filmmaker.

‘Star’ could have been a great coming-of-age film about an aspiring actor. However, it ended up as a showreel more than a emotional and inspiring documentation of his life.

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