Maragadha Naanayam

ARK Saravanan's 2017 Tamil film follows two men hired by a smuggler to find a cursed treasure. Everyone who has come near it has died; with a priest's help the pair summon three ghosts and try to get directions from them. The idea is to make ghosts helpers rather than a source of horror. The three come from different periods and each keeps his own habits; the humour comes from that mismatch. It was made on a low budget and the limits of the effects are visible; rather than hiding this the film folds it into the comedy. Aadhi Pinisetty leads. The narrative scatters in the second half and the final section falls into the template of the genre. Who it's for: those who like Tamil horror comedy. Who it's not for: viewers looking for real suspense; the film hardly takes its horror seriously.