Jatadhara

Everything in the movie is unabashedly tacky, from the visual effects to the performances. The belief in pseudoscience and sorcery is serious and deep. There appears to be no difference between religion and black magic. Even the floods in Kerala in 2018 is the result of human interference in the state of the Padmanabhaswamy temple’s mysterious gold reserves. Shiva earnestly explains the usefulness of the Tesla coil for ghost detection. Jatadhara takes itself so seriously that it enacts a tantric ritual in full. The film pauses only to regard the truth about Shiva’s past, recovering in time to dish out unabashed ludicrousness.

Overall, Jatadhara is an ambitious attempt to merge myth and modern horror, and it succeeds in parts. It tries to be different, even if it loses its footing in over-the-top theatrics and forced emotion. What could have been an unsettling supernatural thriller ends up being a mixed bag: half compelling myth, half confused mayhem.

The deeper issue with ‘Jatadhara’ isn’t just poor execution; it’s the absence of intent. There’s no emotional or narrative spine. The film tosses around words like “faith,” “fear,” and “energy,” but never commits to exploring what they mean. The Shiva integration and the Tandav sequence in the climax feel forced and unnecessary, more like a cash-in on current trends than a genuine extension of the story. In the end, ‘Jatadhara’ feels like a film designed from a checklist rather than a script. Sudheer Babu and Sonakshi Sinha do their best to rise above the chaos, but the inconsistent direction, flat writing, and weak technicals leave little room for redemption. There’s a genuinely interesting concept buried somewhere here — about hidden treasure, human sacrifices, and the myth of Dhana Pisachini, but it’s lost in the noise of poor filmmaking.

Somewhere in this choppy, chaotic enterprise is a film which wants to warn us about the evils of greed, and the importance of tradition. But it is basically yet another Sudheer Babu star vehicle, in which he romances, dances, and chases bad spirits away. Any damage to our ears is strictly our responsibility.