FOLKLORE HORROR MISFIRED

TITLE: Munjya

DIRECTOR: Aditya Sarpotdar CAST: Sharvari, Abhay Verma, Mona Singh and others WHERE: In theatres near you RATING: HH

Horror-comedy as a genre hasn’t been explored much in our Hindi films until producer Dinesh Vijan refurbished it with Stree in 2018 and since then the genre garnered the social acceptance. He also introduced his own horror-verse with Roohi (2021), Bhediya (2022) and now with Munjya, he steps into the world of Konkan folklore.

Bittu (Abhay Verma) visits his ancestral house with his widowed mother Pammi (Mona Singh), a small-time beautician and incidentally enters an adjacent cursed island. Bittu secretly loves his childhood friend Bela (Sharvari), a Zumba professional. Munjya, the child demon finds his way to marry his love Munni through Bittu. Will Bittu be able to help in Munjya’s unfinished business with the help of Bela?

Director Aditya Sarpotdar narrates a story of a child demon, a belief in the interiors of Konkan, Maharashtra. The film starts off really strong and interesting but loses its focus, grip, charm, motive and the core intent by the second half. However, his second half is a tad bit better than the first, but again, too pointless. Munjya’s entire logic doesn’t seem right. The film is a Roohi lookalike that falls flat in every aspect.

Although Aditya tries too hard to keep the essence of Tumbbad (2021) and Kantara

(2022) in his film but it all goes haywire. It looks funnier than it should have been. To save the film somehow, he infuses an exciting crossover before the final credits roll and Sharvari’s piping hot dance number Taras.

Abhay is honest, convincing and very appealing throughout. Sharvari is watchable. Mona does justice to her part and rest are just about okay. Munjya is one of the weakest link the horror-verse of

Stree, Roohi and

Bhediya. It is advisable that don’t hold unrealistic expectations from it despite it is laced with supernatural element, superstitions and beliefs and forced comedy.

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One of the film’s significant drawbacks is its poor exposition and lacklustre plot. The convoluted narrative features a series of contrived subplots that fail to add depth or interest. For instance, Marcus suffers a heart attack early on and is advised to maintain a healthy diet, leading to a running gag about his cravings for junk food. This subplot feels forced and quickly becomes tiresome. Similarly,