User reviews

I'm confused on so many levels about this movie. On the one hand, the visuals and the music together make a great atmosphere throughout the movie making the horror fantasy feel of it almost perfect. On the other hand, the dialogues are horrendous with a stage drama-like style to them and the direction of the actors seems to make it worse. It's only when the actors deliver something beyond the dialogue, some things they are already comfortable with outside of this movie, that the acting works very well. Shine Tom's recent unhinged interviews now feel like an extension of this character. Either you will love it or you will hate it. I loved his performance in this movie so much that no one else deserves a mention about their performances after his one in this movie.

There is an attempt to use folklore and bring it to a western sensibility without losing our perception of such folklore. That aspect is clearly inspired by Tumbbad but it doesn't really translate beyond the basic idea and some creature designs used. Due to this attempt, there are a lot of things in the movie that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but the movie doesn't really want us to think that deeply either.

Overall, I think Kumari is a decent attempt despite its shortcomings as a horror fantasy. It could've been easily a better experience just by trimming around 30 minutes out of the movie.

By making Ranam and Kumari, placing both films on extreme ends of the spectrum in the visual landscape and making both of them aesthetically stunning yet lacking something in the writing department, Nirmal Sahadev proves his aesthetic sensibilities and the need for a better screenwriter for his stories.

Let me get this straight first, this is by no means a bad film, but screenplay doesnt give the story enough strength to give the audience the needed effect.

The first 20mins of prelude had some of the best story telling i have seen in some time but from there the screenplay meanders. Cinematography was top notch with some brilliant shots, nusic was okayish though i dont think it fits a period fantasy film.

Aishwarya lekshmi gives it her all.

There are portions of the film that we wish we had a forward button and the climax showdown looked amateurish.

As i said in the beginning its not a bad film by any means but leaves a lot to be desired.

A decent attempt to make Tummbad in a traditional Kerala household setting, which unfortunately ended up becoming a cheap replica of the original, with a few redeeming qualities.

The visuals were enchanting but anyone who has seen Tummbad can make the connection within the opening act (my 5 yr old daughter could spot it by then.)

Shine Tom and Aishwarya were majestic but the Demigods were reminiscent of the 80's Hollywood creature-flick atrocities, which kind of made the final few shots unpalatable.

The movie has taken inspiration from a variety of sources but managed to incorporate them beautifully, the character development and atmosphere building were impeccable.

If it hadn't been for the lackluster climax, this would've been a spiritual successor to the genre defining cult classics like "Manichitrathazhu" and "Anandabhadram", alas, it wasn't to be.

If you haven't seen Tummbad, brace yourself for a memorable watch that will stay with you for a long time, both for it's aesthetics and pitiable climax sequences.

Overall, a decent attempt at recreating the on-screen magic of Tummbad.

Kumari, produced by Prithviraj, promises a lot of intrugue, mystique and thrills in the trailer. It succeeds in providing the intrigue and the mystique but fails in the thrills dept. The movie is the fable of a woman named Kumari who gets married and travels to a small village steeped in folklore and the tale of two opposing demons. The first half does a good job of building up the storyline and sets clear expectations of what to expect in the second half. The background score also sets the mood of the film. I expected more horror elements but all you get are a few jump scares which was disheartening.

The second half carries on from the first in much the same fashion and your expectation builds up only to be let down in the climax. Without spoiling, I'll just say that the prosthetics looked cheap and the action underwhelming. Also, what were Shine's dialogues in the movie? He kept mumbling in a raspy voice all throughout and I was not able to understand more than half of what he said.

Overall, the acting is top notch by entire cast. The stand out performance for me was Surabhi Lakshmi. Absolutely amazing. She also had to learn a weird malayalam dialect which required subtitles for the viewers to understand.

6/10.

Let me come straight to the point, Surabhi Lakshmi was terrific. The casting was perfect, the colour grading & all is perfect as well. But it's the screenplay which falls flat after that 1st half & the animations could have been better. The character of Shine Tom Chacko can be a little irritating at times but he did shine in his role. Aishwarya lekshmi did her part well especially during the 2nd half. The timelines in the movie is quite confusing as the songs & certain aspects do not match with the time period. The songs were unnecessary & few of the BGM seems a mismatch to the time period. Aesthetically the movie is quite appealing but the story seems thin. The opening sequence is literally the same as tumbbad. Give it a watch for a Saturday night movie.

Barring a few scenes, the movie is refreshing and with a lot new and chilling ideas. Aishwarya Lakshmi as Kumari is really terrific. She excels in many scenes.

Apart from her, Shine Tom Chacko, Swasika Vijay and Surabhi Lakshmi make their presence felt.

The background score by Jakes Bejoy is pulsating and a couple of songs are really good.

Nirmal Sahadev's story is a heady mixture of fantasy and horror. As the director, he did a clean job of presenting an eminently watchable movie, if you can excuse him for a few boring scenes.

The locations are very good and carefully chosen by the movie team. Overall, a paisa vasool movie.

Starting off as a grandmother narrating a story to her granddaughter, the movie gets a solid first half with good performances from the cast, beguiling colours and fabulous background scores from Jakes Bejoy which plays a strong role in lifting up scenes at multiple places. The script is paced well and keeps viewers hooked throughout the first half of a little more than an hour.

But this slowly dies down in the second half of the movie. The script loses its depth and by that the hook it seemed to have in the first and also climax was visibly lacking - be it for the execution, or the performance from the leads.

Also was there are subtle and not so subtle hints of manichithrathazhu at certain places.

The song which introduces the character of Kumari and people dancing around for the same seemed a bit of a misfit for a movie of this time.

The art(except for that of the chatanmar which seemed more of something from a movie to come 10 or even 20 years back) ,makeup and lighting departments sure deserve praise for their impeccable work throughout the movie. The night shots especially, which are aplenty here were magnificently lit to say the least . Dubbing seemed to be lacking for many of the side casts.

Surabhi Lakshmi deserves a special mention for the killer performance put through within the limited screen time given.

Overall a decent movie worthy of a theatre experience.

It's been years since a horror fantasy mystery (like Ananthabhadram) in Mollywood. Kumari may not be a watch for all but for me it was a bliss ✨. Apart from small trails and non understandable dialogue delivery of Shine Tom Chacko It was a pure joy of wonderful screenplay ,music and great performances of all the cast. Everyone was beautiful in every screen notably the main cast . Eventhough ,it was a beautiful theatre experience it was underwhelming to see vacant seats on the third day of release . It is a must watch for all those who love to hear stories of the land and to escape from the real world to a world of mysticism ,witchcraft which hasn't lost its relevance even today...

With an opening narrative of captivating notes and some powerful imagery and cinematography, the movie starts strongly outlining the backstory of how a family gets cursed by demonic forces.. generations later events unfold again and you have new characters suffering the consequences.. Aishwarya essays the character wonderfully, others less so but still without too much to fault .. it is a theme which is heavy on occult and dark forces and so very little to distract and hence needs a tight screenplay and second half is not taut enough .. On the whole this is a geniune attempt with some technical finesse to bring to the screen a tough theme to pull off and it is a good effort .. not for everyone though I would imagine ..

An amazing concept, but fails to impress in execution.

First 15 minutes of the movie, I was very hopefull that this is going to be a nice movie. The concept of the folklore story was very exciting. The movie nicely establishes the plot but failed to emotionaly invest me in the story. The visuals were amazing. The cinematography by Abraham joseph was a big positive. Aishwarya lakshmi was good. The songs were nice, especially the one introducing kumaris character. Amazing set designs. The technical department did a great job. All the actors who came as extras did a good job.

As a fantasy movie, the movie fails to set the rules in the world. So feels pretty inconsistent in most parts. Shine tom chakos character did not work for me (his sound modulation didnot work either). Could have focused on writing a little more.

Good effort, nice concept, but misses the mark somewhere.

I loved the movie. I just wanted to say that I don't get to watch a lot of Malayalam movies so I have definitely not seen every single movie out there. BUT the way they filmed Kerala and showed the beauty of the culture was just so ONE OF A KIND!! So beautiful. 100/100 I loved seeing my culture portrayed in the most authentic self! Also the characters were amazing too! I will definitely recommend this movie to people that are not from Kerala, just to show a clear representation of the beauty of the land, aesthetic, culture etc. I would love to see more films like this on Netflix & looking forward to following the cast & director.

Sorta went into this blind but Kumari turned out to be a great watch for me.

Let's talk plot.

Eons ago, a goddess that came to earth and found herself so fascinated by the world, she chose to remain on earth.

She subsequently falls in love with a human and gives birth to two children, Chathan and Gari Devan. The children were disfigured, looked nothing like humans or gods but had great powers. When their fighting began destroying earth, the goddess subdued them by limiting Chathan's presence to the mountainous forest, Gari Devan's to the underground and returned to her otherworldly home. Humans come to realize their powers and begin worshiping the demi-gods.

Kumari is a young woman who leaves home by way of arranged marriage. Her husband is the lonely, disappointing second born son of the village lord and 12th generation descendent of an evil lord who killed a forest child that Chathan was fond of. Chathan seeks revenge for the child's death by cursing the entire village. To rescue the village and more importantly, maintain his power, the evil lord calls upon Gari Devan to lift the curse. The price this salvation called for was the sacrificing of the lord's firstborn child and to maintain it every 12th generation would have to make the same sacrifice.

When the elder son fails to produce offspring and Kumari falls pregnant, the husband gets the future lordship and the power goes to his head. Kumari learns of the plans to sacrifice her baby and has to find a way to save her child.

So, yeah, I thought this was a good film. The pace was good, it held interest and the practical effects were well done. The second act of the film was lacking something. Maybe it was simply the dialogue but the story was a little muddled at times. Otherwise, no complaints here. I say give it a look if fantasy bordering on fairytales is your thing, check it out.

Good one. A folklore thriller story, a genre that has been missing in Malayalam for a while. The story and cinematography are excellent. The practical effects does a great job. Negatives are the length and slow first half. Dubbing has been inconsistent with Shine's character. Aishwarya could not do much as her expressions does not do justice to the scene's potential impact. The editing towards climax is lousy with repeated bg music. Could have been much better. Many unwanted characters including Aishu's brother and Shine's mother. Their scenes doesn't add any impact to the script. Surabhi's character is amazing.

First the good points * Interesting horror side engaging with tales of demons, spirits tantra and a look at ancient kerala and landlords thamburatti, *Simple costumes, real outlook without glamour and fanfare * Authentic tantrik practices and temple worship system depicted

Spoilers * Car, Bikes, Wrist watch are shown but then in the landlord house there is no electricity and oil lamps are used * Dhruvan cuts off three fingers in later part of movie the fingers are back again * In modern time of car, bikes the labour and birth of child is done in house with midwives.

Murder is committed in open fields no cops or police

Actual year is not disclos.

Most pathetic film the start was alr to an extent then from there it had just gone downhill the storyline was alright but the production and actor are horrible they show it so badd worst attempt to make a horror film the only reason I had watched this film was because I heard apparently it was a good horror film but it was sooo pathetic the actors and director had ruined it 4/10 for storyline and pathetic 1/10 for actor that's why I am giving this a kind 2 which it doesn't deserve can't imagine they spent 500 million on this pathetic film worst film ever don't watch wast of time and just the story line is good somewhat.

Terrible movie!!! In today's world of science and technology, showcasing such movies filled with superstition and regressive thinking is really disappointing. Some reviews are comparing this to the epic movie Manichitrathazhu; one can only laugh at such baseless comparisons. Some are even saying Shine Tom Chacko is like Manoj K Jayan in Sargam; in fact it cannot be further from the truth. He seems completely out of place in the character with complete lack of intensity and does not scare us even for a moment. Lesser said about the VFX, the better. Such movies show India in poor light and it's sad that Prithviraj chose to produce it and Netflix is promoting it.

Great concept and good acting but poor story, screenplay and direction made it into a disaster.

There is an evil in the village and to defeat that evil the ruler of the village summon another evil. This is not a good Vs evil story, which is actually the basic of any Muthashikatha ( bedtime stories). None of the characters are well developed. After watching 2 hours of the movie you will feel that you got each one of the characters for just 10 minutes. The final fight scene was kind of comedy instead of thriller or horror. There was no slow revealing suspense kept. Everything was out in the open scene after scene.

This movie reminded me of TUMBBAD, though that was more scary and also loved it more. I quite liked this too and maybe not for everyone but I love stories and especially ones that have an element of myth and thrill. This movie ticked all the boxes.

• It was well DIRECTED. The Director did a good job.

• It was great ACTING, the actors did an amazing job.

• I loved the PHOTOGRAPHY, the cameras took the perfect shots.

• The LOCATIONS and the story matched perfectly.

• The SCRIPT was well written. It kept me gripped on every scene

Even though I don't speak Malayalam (I was reading the subtitles), the movie kept me on the edge of my seat.

A tale of a woman, demigods, rituals, curses, Tradition & Power all fueled by black magic.

Oldschool storytelling & screenplay enhanced and elevated a bit by modern technicality That's it, that's what Kumari felt like to me.

Not an appreciable something akin to that of Anandabhadram(The last actual popular, noticeable and widely appreciated folk fantasy flick from the malayalam film industry) and also even if it looks like it was influenced by TUMBBAD, can't be kept anywhere near it.

Shine"s performance was good and compelling in a way too but his dialogue delivery was way too dramatic... kinda Like that of a play.

Might have been to give the character a varied touch but it just didn't go beyond the boundaries of dialogues.

I think he did a good job speaking as DHRUVAN in the interviews than he did in the film.

The visuals weren't anything mesmerizing, just good but i did like the color grading a lot.

Perfectly suited for the atmosphere and the tone of the flick.

The scores were good too.

Overall apart from Shine tom chacko's DRUVAN and that too just to some extent, nothing really turned out to be effectively spooky,interesting or intimidating to me.

Didn't like the creature makeup or the rubber suitted amphibian monster/demigod called Gari Devan.

Also this one offered one of the cringiest, unintentionally funny and awfully executed and awful in itself climax & climatic faceoff.

Those annoying songs could've been cut out.

They did nothing but just stretch out the duration of the movie and push it beyond that 120 min mark.

Watchable but not really appreciable.

Kumari on Netflix is an Indian-originated mythological folklore told with utmost ingenuity and enchanting visuals. Right from its engrossing premise to the climax, the film sticks true to its genre and nature with an astounding soundtrack and a dreadful back-story that teleports audience to the bed-time grandma story ambience.

The film perfectly blends the genres like folklore horror, mythology, thriller and mystery purposefully channeled into contributing to a tale dotted with empowering performers by Shine Tom ,Aishwarya Lekshmi.

Nirmal Sachadev's bold attempt at redeeming the folklore genre to its original glory succeeds with slight incoherency which is clouded by the film's novelty.

The film is a must watch for its bold attempt, authenticity and 3-dimensional characters.