'Connect' Movie Review
Cast: Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, Vinay Rai, Haniya, Anupam Kher and others.
Music: Prudhvi Chandrasekhar
Cinematography: Manikanthan Krishnamurthy
Producer: Vignesh Shivan
Writer: Ashwin Saravanan â Kavya Ram Kumar
Director: Ashwin Saravanan
Ashwin Saravanan caught the attention of everyone with a horror thriller movie 'Mayuri' that he made with Nayanthara in the lead. In was his first film and his second movie was 'Game Over' with Tapsee Pannu. It was a variety thriller and he is now back to working with Nayanthara again. He made a movie named 'Connect' which is a horror thriller set in lockdown period . The movie got released now and let us see how it turned out.
Story:
Susan (Nayanthara), her husband doctor Joseph (Vinay Rai) and daughter Ammu (Haniya) live happily. When Corona spreads across the world, Joseph cures a lot of people but falls prey to it himself. In the meanwhile, Susan and Ammu test positive for the virus and they stay in isolation. But Ammu starts behaving weirdly and Susan finds out that Corona is not the only reason for it. Things get worse with each passing day and people start doubting that Ammu got possessed. But no one is ready to help them as they are in isolation. What happens now? Will Ammu recover? What happens to Susan? The answers to these questions form the rest of the story.
Analysis:
Most of the stories in horror movies are quite similar. The story revolves around a young girl getting possessed and starts behaving weirdly. She starts troubling others and the people around her trying to solve this problem through black magic or some other means. This is how most of the horror movies turn out and even the recent 'Masooda' is made in the same way. But showing the ghost as a Muslim, giving it a chilling story and some spooky moments made it special. Despite the same story, if the backdrop is new and the thrills are effective, the horror films work big time.
'Connect' which is a Tamil movie dubbed in Telugu also has a unique backdrop. They picked the Corona backdrop which is quite contemporary and relatable. But the newness stops right there as 'Connect' offers nothing too exciting which turns out to its biggest minus. Despite the technical brilliance, the lack of thrills and slow pace heavily disappoints the normal audience let alone the horror lovers. The biggest attraction to 'Connect' is Nayanthara. She is the lady superstar and people walk into theatres to watch her. But one wonders what made her accept this movie. Anyone can do this role and it doesn't need an actress of Nayanthara's stature. The character is quite ordinary and it is another big minus.
The story entirely runs around her daughter's role. Usually, horror movies have a village backdrop but the makers went for an urban backdrop and modern outlook. A black magician sending the ghost into the heroine's house through video call and the ghost showing its power while the mother and daughter are stuck in isolation makes you get interested in the movie. Though they have the platform to send shivers down the spine of people. The director Ashwin Saravanan did not meet the expectations.
Apart from the usual jerks and spooky moments one would expect from any horror movie, there are no big surprises in 'Connect'. Also, when the horror element begins, it shouldn't have any breaks. The movie should run in a flow which did not happen for 'Connect'. After a horror scene, the makers followed it up with a very normal scene instead of keeping it tight throughout the movie. The team showed that the story runs through a lot of days without any flow which makes things tough as one cannot get the complete horror feel in this movie. Apart from very engaging moments here and there, the movie failed to engage the audience throughout. The climax also offers nothing different except for showing the doctor in a modern manner. Despite the 99 minutes runtime, the movie is quite slow and doesn't impress you mightily. The lockdown backdrop and a few moments of thrills paired with the technical prowess are the only saving grace of this film.
Performances:
There are no faults in Nayanthara's performance. She did the best she could and fit the role perfectly. Her action in the climax is wonderful but her character lacks any uniqueness. Any actor would have done this role and it did not need a star like Nayanthara.
Haniya as the daughter who gets possessed did a very good job. But most of her scenes are in the dark or her face is covered with hair which makes it tough for the audience to see her expressions. Satyaraj appeared natural in the grandfather role. Vinay Rai appeared only for a short period and Anupam Kher did a good job as the saviour.
Technicians:
'Connect' is made on international standards. The background score by Prudhvi Chandrasekhar is amazing and the sound design is perfect as well. Manikanthan Krishnamurthy's cinematography is effective. His lighting worked great in this horror flick. Production values are adequate and director Ashwin Saravanan who surprised the audience with his first film 'Mayuri' failed to achieve the same level of success. His graph went down with his second movie 'Game Over' but it went down even lower after 'Connect'. His grip on this genre is visible at times but he failed to impress overall. His different backdrop is not backed by an interesting screenplay.
Verdict: It is tough to 'Connect'!
Rating: 2.25/5
Cast: Nayanthara, Sathyaraj, Vinay Rai, Haniya, Anupam Kher and others.
Music: Prudhvi Chandrasekhar
Cinematography: Manikanthan Krishnamurthy
Producer: Vignesh Shivan
Writer: Ashwin Saravanan â Kavya Ram Kumar
Director: Ashwin Saravanan
Ashwin Saravanan caught the attention of everyone with a horror thriller movie 'Mayuri' that he made with Nayanthara in the lead. In was his first film and his second movie was 'Game Over' with Tapsee Pannu. It was a variety thriller and he is now back to working with Nayanthara again. He made a movie named 'Connect' which is a horror thriller set in lockdown period . The movie got released now and let us see how it turned out.
Story:
Susan (Nayanthara), her husband doctor Joseph (Vinay Rai) and daughter Ammu (Haniya) live happily. When Corona spreads across the world, Joseph cures a lot of people but falls prey to it himself. In the meanwhile, Susan and Ammu test positive for the virus and they stay in isolation. But Ammu starts behaving weirdly and Susan finds out that Corona is not the only reason for it. Things get worse with each passing day and people start doubting that Ammu got possessed. But no one is ready to help them as they are in isolation. What happens now? Will Ammu recover? What happens to Susan? The answers to these questions form the rest of the story.
Analysis:
Most of the stories in horror movies are quite similar. The story revolves around a young girl getting possessed and starts behaving weirdly. She starts troubling others and the people around her trying to solve this problem through black magic or some other means. This is how most of the horror movies turn out and even the recent 'Masooda' is made in the same way. But showing the ghost as a Muslim, giving it a chilling story and some spooky moments made it special. Despite the same story, if the backdrop is new and the thrills are effective, the horror films work big time.
'Connect' which is a Tamil movie dubbed in Telugu also has a unique backdrop. They picked the Corona backdrop which is quite contemporary and relatable. But the newness stops right there as 'Connect' offers nothing too exciting which turns out to its biggest minus. Despite the technical brilliance, the lack of thrills and slow pace heavily disappoints the normal audience let alone the horror lovers. The biggest attraction to 'Connect' is Nayanthara. She is the lady superstar and people walk into theatres to watch her. But one wonders what made her accept this movie. Anyone can do this role and it doesn't need an actress of Nayanthara's stature. The character is quite ordinary and it is another big minus.
The story entirely runs around her daughter's role. Usually, horror movies have a village backdrop but the makers went for an urban backdrop and modern outlook. A black magician sending the ghost into the heroine's house through video call and the ghost showing its power while the mother and daughter are stuck in isolation makes you get interested in the movie. Though they have the platform to send shivers down the spine of people. The director Ashwin Saravanan did not meet the expectations.
Apart from the usual jerks and spooky moments one would expect from any horror movie, there are no big surprises in 'Connect'. Also, when the horror element begins, it shouldn't have any breaks. The movie should run in a flow which did not happen for 'Connect'. After a horror scene, the makers followed it up with a very normal scene instead of keeping it tight throughout the movie. The team showed that the story runs through a lot of days without any flow which makes things tough as one cannot get the complete horror feel in this movie. Apart from very engaging moments here and there, the movie failed to engage the audience throughout. The climax also offers nothing different except for showing the doctor in a modern manner. Despite the 99 minutes runtime, the movie is quite slow and doesn't impress you mightily. The lockdown backdrop and a few moments of thrills paired with the technical prowess are the only saving grace of this film.
Performances:
There are no faults in Nayanthara's performance. She did the best she could and fit the role perfectly. Her action in the climax is wonderful but her character lacks any uniqueness. Any actor would have done this role and it did not need a star like Nayanthara.
Haniya as the daughter who gets possessed did a very good job. But most of her scenes are in the dark or her face is covered with hair which makes it tough for the audience to see her expressions. Satyaraj appeared natural in the grandfather role. Vinay Rai appeared only for a short period and Anupam Kher did a good job as the saviour.
Technicians:
'Connect' is made on international standards. The background score by Prudhvi Chandrasekhar is amazing and the sound design is perfect as well. Manikanthan Krishnamurthy's cinematography is effective. His lighting worked great in this horror flick. Production values are adequate and director Ashwin Saravanan who surprised the audience with his first film 'Mayuri' failed to achieve the same level of success. His graph went down with his second movie 'Game Over' but it went down even lower after 'Connect'. His grip on this genre is visible at times but he failed to impress overall. His different backdrop is not backed by an interesting screenplay.
Verdict: It is tough to 'Connect'!
Rating: 2.25/5