Annabelle Sethupathi Review – Horror Disaster

Rudra (Taapsee) and his family are petty thieves who are forced to enter a haunted palace. Rudra has a past connected to the palace which connects to her past life as Annabelle. Who is Annabelle? How is she connected to the Palace? What happens when Rudra enters the palace? is the crux of the story.

Taapsee has been making some interesting choices in recent years and every movie has something special for her. She plays two roles as Annabelle and Rudra in the film. Both the characters do not have anything exciting for the actress. The characters lack proper depth as a result, she has been very ordinary.

One would expect something special in a character if Vijay Sethupathi is doing it. But Veera Sethupathi is a massive disappointment for his fans. It is so badly etched that we can barely see him comfortable. Having said that he did not do anything bad but the impact is badly battered by a poor characterization. Even the styling is a failure. He looks more of a North India Sherwani-clad groom than a King. Furthermore, both of them make a very bad pair.

Annabelle Sethupathi is a horror-comedy. A gang of robbers is introduced into a haunted house. They are put to a lot of trouble and also leads to a past of Rudra (as Annabelle Sethupathi). The grand palace set will keep you interested in the story but the good things end there. Deepak Sundarrajan, the writer and director has let down the film completely.

First things first, there is no horror in the film. All the ghosts barring Jagapathi Babu are comedy artists making the intentions clear. There are several horror-comedies that do not have such chills but still went on to become successful due to the entertainment part. But the comedy is the biggest blooper in the film. We have Yogi Babu trying his level best to lift the proceedings but lack of proper writing means there is nothing he could do.

There are many comedy scenes until the flashback of the film. Every single one of them feels very familiar and boring you big time. The comedy sequences do not allow the audience to engross in the story and at the same time, they do not work as well. Vijay Sethupathi enters the film only in the second half. It pains so much to see how such an actor is wasted in a role that is a sham in all the ways.

Forget about what he does, even his costumes are so bad that he barely looks like a King. In comparison, Jagapathi Babu looks much better in costumes and also the elegance. The idea of casting Taapsee as an English woman itself is strange and the love story is even badly conceived. Hence the flashback does not establish the motive which should be the base for the story.

Things turn even worse after that. The climax is cliched and completely rushed into. It appears like the director is as much exhausted as the audience and is in a hurry to wrap up things. Finally, Annabelle Sethupathi is that kind of film everyone from the cast and crew to the audience would love to forget as soon as possible. For those who did not try, reserve your time for better things.

There are a couple of songs that are completely inept. The background score works but would not leave us with an impact due to bad writing. The camera work is neat and so is the production design. Despite being a modest runtime film, it still feels lengthy.