Review of movie Neeli

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Rating: 2.5/5

It's easy for a horror comedy to come off as silly even if it slips once in the entire two hour duration. That is probably the most crucial criteria that the makers of Neeli had tried to take care of while making the movie. And for most part, they succeed.

The film starts off setting a suspenseful mood through a haunting a mortuary. Soon, the director introduces the characters - one by one - and that methodical approach is probably one of the letdowns of the film, that scares in the horror part but becomes a drag in the rest.

The film's protagonist Lekshmi (Mamta) is a speech therapist and a single mother. She along with her daughter returns to their ancestral village in Kalingadu, after her husband (Rahul Madhav) passes away. During one night, Lakshmi is attacked and her daughter kidnapped. The rest for the tale is the pursuit of the daughter.

This is also where the movie veers into the horror territory. After obvious efforts to track down her daughter fail, Lekshmi seeks the help of an supernatural power in the village, Neeli. 

To support the supernatural forces at play, the obvious character of a paranormal investigator Reny (Anoop Menon) enters the fray along with two good-hearted thieves played by Baburaj and Sreekumar along with a photographer essayed by Zinil Zainudeen - the trio take care of the comedic devices in the film. Not that it needed many, especially with Reny's gizmos that could track any energy based on its smell.

Mamta Mohandas does her part well - in the emotional scenes showcasing her past as well as a frantically worried mother. Anoop Menon's cool portrayal of the paranormal investigator makes the role believable and keeps it from being inane. Rahul Madhav’s cameo is decent. Baburaj and Sreekumar’s best comedy scene though is when two ghouls confront them in a house they broke into, the rest of the time their repartee hardly work. 

The film though works in parts, especially when it focuses on the horror elements. However, that's far and few in between. If instead of the drama and flat comedy, the makers had put in more effort to make it a proper horror movie it would have succeeded. But instead we are left with an average movie with a wafer thin plot and even less engaging experience.