Antakshari–a word that reminds you of childhood, friendships, and affection. Even today, when we are with our family, trying to find something to do together at home, antakshari is one of the first games that come to our mind. You sing a song, stop at a point, and the next person starts with the alphabet you stopped at and so on. It’s a game you associate with fun and laughter. But writer-director Vipin Das just put a macabre spin to it in his latest outing.

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A fun game turns into a nightmare

Das, convincingly played by Saiju Kurup, is the Circle Inspector at the tiny village of Kedaram. He has a penchant for antakshari which his peers are well aware of. His obsession with the song game doesn’t stay limited to his home, but also crosses over to the police station when he questions his suspects. Das is unlike the Malayalam movie cops from the 90s — a larger-than-life man throwing around witty dialogues and fighting goons. He is a hapless victim of the apathetic system he is a part of.

Das’s favourite game soon becomes a nightmare when a serial killer targets him as his next victim. The serial killer asks Das to play antakshari with him, which a confused Das refuses to do. This leads to an attack on Das’s daughter. After the attack, Das and a fellow sub-inspector on probation, Sreenivas, set out on a quest for the truth.

A lot of wasted potential

Antakshari loses steam as the director tries to keep too many subplots alive. While some shed commentary on how trauma affects people, others provide a link to the truth behind the serial killer Das is chasing. But these subplots don’t really come to completion.

The movie has quite a few jump scares that are mild but quite effective. Kudos to the team for also maintaining a level of unpredictability in the movie. The movie starts a few years in the past. So, we can guess who is going to be the villain. But the unpredictability lies in the identity of the villain in the present time. There are a lot of suspects, including Das himself, and the credit for this goes to the direction and editing. But the movie takes too long to connect the dots, and when they do come together, we are almost at the finish line.

A lesson in how trauma affects you

From the beginning, the movie establishes the background and trauma of the killer. So, you never vilify him, but you sympathise with him for his past. You can clearly see how childhood trauma builds your character and personality. In a similar vein, we meet a mute girl Nayana, who was sexually assaulted by an ice-candy man as a young girl. One can only assume that is the incident that rendered Nayana mute. The movie is a commentary on how trauma builds a person and how their actions are often trauma responses.

An effective yet underwhelming climax

In the two hour run-time, the movie tries to build connections in the first hour and a half. The last thirty minutes or so is the power-packed climax. But after a point, the climax falters too. The reveal of the villain is underwhelming. But that doesn’t take away from the gripping rawness of the climax. As Das chases the real killer through the woods under the cover of darkness, the tension builds. The game of antakshari between the two will give you goosebumps. You might not be able to play the game like the good old days for a while. The tension and fear are even more effective because you don’t have a melodious singer singing Malayalam movie songs.

Director Vipin Das does not shy away from putting his point forward in the rawest way possible. There are certain scenes that are outright brutal to watch. The movie is not an easy watch and definitely not meant for the faint of heart. Antakshari could have been a brilliant movie, but in its over ambitiousness, it stays a mere decent watch. The movie does manage to thrill quite effectively. So, if that’s something that interests you, give it a watch.

Antakshari is streaming on Sony LIV.

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