BOTTOM LINE
Routine Scares, Terrible Drama
RATING
1.75/5
CENSOR
A, 2h 7m
Naina (Hebah Patel), disturbed by the death of her maid’s daughter due to a fake Swami, decides to expose similar fake gurus (across the religions) who feed on the normal people’s fears. It eventually leads her to Dr Adidev (Prithveeraj ), a renowned neurologist turned Swami.
Naina and her gang don’t believe in ghosts. Adidev challenges them to stay in a haunted house for three days to prove them wrong. The movie’s basic plot is what happens in the end.
Performances
Hebah Patel, seen after a long time on the big screen, gets a routine role. She doesn’t come across as impressive or stand out in the first half. In fact, Hebah Patel’s character doesn’t even come across as likeable. The second half offers some stuff, but it still lacks the impact as the character follows routine genre tropes.
Thrigun playing the hero is merely a formality. He is one of the gang and does an okay job on his part whenever the scope arises.
Akhil Raj comes across as disappointing, mainly due to his last outing as a hero. He gets a poorly written character that doesn’t give him any scope to shine.
Siri Hanmanth is the final cog in the wheel. She has a more emotional and volatile part compared to others. But, like others, she too suffers due to the poor characterisation.
Srinivas Manne writes and directs the movie. It is a pure horror thriller sticking to the genre with not much deviation to include commercial elements.
Esha opens with a bunch of kids discussing ghosts. It sets the theme, but one can see the technical aspects not being on par, and also missing the gripping quality. The same pattern continues for most of the narrative.
The beginning of the movie, setting up exposing fake Swamis with the introduction of one, is decently conceived, but parts of it look very amateurish. An uneven tone can be felt, which doesn’t let one get entirely into the narrative.
The real story, however, begins with the introduction of Dr Adidev’s character. The intersection of three tracks leading to the narrative culminating with the basic conflict is alright.
Once we enter the haunted house, the proceedings follow predictable horror genre clichés with the characters doing things irrationally to bring the required effects. The sound effects are fine, but the actions don’t feel organic. Therefore, the jump scares also lack the desired result.
The biggest problem, however, more than the jump scares, is the writing. It feels non-existent when we look at the scenes involving the friends’ gang. The same is the case with dramatic moments featuring them. They don’t register. The superficial, irritating characterisation further mars the narrative.
Still, given the core conflict and some intriguing bits involving Dr Adidev’s character, one looks forward to the second half in hope of something gripping and out of the box. Unfortunately, none of it happens.
The deliberate slow pacing is fine, but when it matches with deliberate actions to get to a certain point, the impact is diluted. Neither the scares nor the writing work here. The repetitiveness adds to the chore.
After a point, the whole thing leads to the climax with a twist. It is here that the rug is pulled down from the viewer’s feet. Unfortunately, even the climax doesn’t offer anything new (even Twist Wise). It is certainly predictable to the regular genre watchers.
Some might find the twist okay, which salvages the movie a little bit, towards the end. More than the twist, the emotion behind it is key here. Nothing else is working for the film. Had all the illogical moments too tied up neatly with it, maybe the whole thing would have felt somewhat better.
Overall, Eesha had scope to be a decent horror thriller. But the long scenes with terrible writing and irritating actions from characters make it impossible to happen.
Performances by Others Actors
Prithveeraj is the next big prominent character apart from the friend gang. The get-up and voice (dubbing) is highly distracting, but he has a decent character that is also important to the story. It makes him register, at least. The rest of the cast has very little to do, barring the actor playing the possessed guy. He is okay.
RR Dhruva’s background score is decent. It is loud but works well for the content. The issue here is more to do with the way the BGM is inserted into the narrative. It adds to the uneven tone of the movie.
The movie’s cinematography could have been better. The location and the moments offered enough to give a visually slick output, but it doesn’t happen. The editing should have been better. The dialogues, mainly related to friends, are terrible. The intended drama never works.
Highlights?
Short Length
Few Jump Scare Moments Here And There
Drawbacks?
Writing
Poor Characterisations
Too Many Genre Cliches
Predictability
Climax Doesn’t Land
Did I Enjoy It?
No. As a frequent viewer of the genre, the scares offered no surprise. However, a non-regular viewer might find it otherwise, in some places.
Will You Recommend It?
No
Eesha Telugu Movie Review by M9
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