Praana movie review: A scary peek into social issues

Praana movie review: A scary peek into social issues

V K Prakash's 'Pranaa', a psychological horror thriller, is a peek into the social issues in the contemporary society.

It also witnesses the comeback of actress Nithya Menen to Mollywood after '100 Days of Love' in 2015, and that too in a lead role.

It is also the two-time National Award winning director's third collaboration with Nithya after Poppins and Aidondla Aidu (Kannada).

Praana movie review: A scary peek into social issues

The movie, bankrolled by Suresh Raj, Praveen S Kumar and Anita Raj under the banner of SRaj Productions and Real Studio, is also the second Malayalam movie with a solo character after the Kalabhavan Mani starrer 'The Guard', released in 2001.

Nithya portrays the role of Tara Anuradha, a controversial writer who is in search of freedom and wants to escape the intolerant society.

Praana movie review: A scary peek into social issues

Her book 'Music of Freedom' has emerged as a topic of discussion due to her courageous writing, but she also begins to get threats.

However, she hesitates to take protection from the police as she feel it too was restrictive.

One day, Tara comes to know about a haunted house in the highlands. She then decides to take up a challenge.

The writer finds the house and sets out to stay there to let the world know whether the ghosts are real.

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She also decides to record each and every movement in the house in cameras to document it.

What happens from then on forms the crux of the story.

Praana can be considered Nithya Menen's best movie till date as it shows how much she has evolved as an actor.

The director has brought out the best in her. The actress has also lend her voice to the song 'Oruvakkin Mounam'.

Praana has a host of technical starlwarts incuding P C Sreeram and Resul Pookutty.

P C Sreeram's cinematography, with its colour tones that perfectly match the ambience of the movie, is a class act.

The camera also does not hesitate to capture the scenic locales.

Resul Pookutty, the Oscar winning sound editor, has captured not just the dialogues but even the eerie ambience and the minutest of the sounds inlcuding that of a ticking clock in the background.

Probably, ths is due to the effect of live surround sync format, which is also a first in Indian cinema.

The music rendered by Arun Vijay and Louis Banks is soothing, especially the song 'Shalabhangale' sung by Shilpa Raj.

The 107-minute movie, which is a delight to watch, will definitely rattle rigid perceptions.

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