Chathur Mukham
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''Chathur Mukham'' () is a 2021
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...
techno-horror Techno-horror is an intersecting sub-genre of speculative fiction and horror fiction, horror that focuses on concerns with and fears of technology. The stories are often cautionary tales created during periods of rapid technological advancement tha ...
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
directed by Ranjeet Kamala Sankar and Salil V for the screenplay written by Abhayakumar K and Anil Kurian. The film stars
Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978/1979) is an Indian actress, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards South. Warrier made her actin ...
,
Sunny Wayne Sujith Unnikrishnan (born 19 August 1983), known by his stage name Sunny Wayne is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in second lead to supporting roles. He made his acting debut in ''Second Show'' (2012), in which Dulqu ...
,
Alencier ley Lopez Alencier Ley Lopez is an Indian film and theatre actor, who appears in Malayalam films. Lopez made his debut in the 1998 film '' Daya''; and he worked in films like '' Annayum Rasoolum'' (2013), '' Njan Steve Lopez'' (2013), and '' Maheshinte P ...
,
Niranjana Anoop Niranjana Anoop is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. Niranjana is also a trained Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer. Career Niranjana Anoop made her acting debut through the Malayalam film ''Loham'' (2015) di ...
,
Babu Annur Babu Annur also known as C. K. Babu is an Indian film and theater actor, working predominantly in the Malayalam movie industry. He has actively been involved in theater in Malayalam as an actor since 1974. He has done more than seventy-five pla ...
,
Shyamaprasad Shyamaprasad (born 7 November 1960) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor who works in Malayalam films. Career Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 in Palakkad, Kerala, India as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. H ...
and
Rony David Rony David Raj is an Indian actor and former physician who works in Malayalam films. Personal life Rony David Raj was born in Thrissur, Kerala. He is the son of film producer C. T. Rajan. He graduated with a Bachelors of Medicine & Surgery ...
in lead roles.
Manoj Manoj is a male given name of Indian origin. Notable people called Manoj include: Business * Manoj Badale (born 1967), Indian businessman * Manoj Bhargava (born 1953), Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Education * Manoj Chitnavis ...
has edited the film while
Abinandhan Ramanujam Abinandhan Ramanujam is an Indian cinematographer who works primarily in Malayalam and Tamil films. Early life Abinandhan Ramanujam was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He graduated from L.V. Prasad Film and TV Academy, where he received a gold ...
handled the cinematography. Dawn Vincent composed the original songs and
background score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
. The film is jointly produced by Jiss Toms and Justin Thomas under Jiss Toms Movies and Manju Warrier Productions. In the film, Thejaswini, a young woman, buys a cheap smartphone after she loses her old one in an accident. Soon, she is terrorised by a malevolent supernatural entity through the phone, which threatens her safety and those of others, making her seek help. ''Chathur Mukham'' is the story of that nightmare, when over acceptance and dependence on technology can take a turn for the worse, leaving one's best friend as the worst enemy. The movie, with the international title 'The Fourth Face' is selected to the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in South Korea, one of the premier festivals for fantasy and horror. It is showcased in the World Fantastic Red sections of the festival. It was selected to Chuncheon International Film Festival (CIFF) and
Méliès International Festivals Federation Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF), formerly European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF), established in 1987, is a network of 22 genre film festivals from 16 countries based Brussels, Belgium, and dedicated to promoting ...
(MIFF) as Asian entry.


Plot

Clement is a retired professor from the
Kerala Agricultural University Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) is a State university (India), state university for agricultural education, recognised as a State Agricultural University by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). It is situated in Vellanikkara ...
who has also been an avid science enthusiast all his life. Antony, a young man has come to meet Clement with a peculiar problem. He believes that Clement can find a solution to this 'never seen before' phenomenon. Over a cup of tea, Antony details the story of a young, bright woman – Thejaswini. She is a woman of today's times being a complete social media addict and constantly attached to her phone. Together with Antony, she runs a
CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
solutions business at Thiruvananthapuram. Thejaswini is from a middle-class family and believes that every girl should have a good education and attain financial stability before her nuptials. Thejaswini's parents are getting older and her sole sibling is an elder brother Bijesh who is not on talking terms with her. While attending a ''mudiyattam'' ritual at the temple, an accident renders Thejaswini's smart phone useless. With the intention of having a cheaper phone as a stand by for the time being, Thejaswini comes across an unheard of brand of phone, called Liza, on a local reseller website. The phone has attractive features, a low price, and an accompanying free gift. Soon as she purchases the phone and it arrives via courier, unnatural events start to happen around her. These occurrences which seem way out of the normal, start to impact Thejaswini's work, self and even her body, so much so that she tries to get rid of the new purchase by various means, only to find it pulling her back to itself with greater force. Thejaswini suspects that there is something much deeper behind these events and that its somehow connected to her. She along with Antony set out on the journey to unravel the mystery behind the phone. The mystery, it turns out, is life-threatening. The malevolent spirit behind the phone, Adarsh Paul, is the creator of the Liza phone. In his lifetime, Adarsh was unsuccessful in procuring investors for the phone. One prospective investor backed out, upon discovery that the selfie camera did not work well, and gave Adarsh a deadline of 21 days to fix the selfie camera. This matter sent Adarsh into a rage, angry that his phone was not well respected, and frustrated with the 21 day deadline. Adarsh became determined to kill others involved. He killed one investor, then set the lab on fire, and attempted to leave, only to find himself trapped in the lab. Once he perished, he became trapped in his own creation. Since then, those who purchase the phone are given 21 days to live. The number of days left is recorded in the selfie photo taken by the victims. Some who once had the phone have died. Thejaswini discovers that she has even less time to live, as the number in her selfie photo suddenly dropped from 15 to 4. The pair realise that they need to get help fast. Thejaswini and Antony turn to Clement to find closure to this problem. Clement, though shaken due to the unexplainable incidents, consults his friend Ramachandran, who advises him to keep aside the ego of a scientist and accept the issue to arrive at an out-of-the-box solution. The trio experiment with using a
Faraday cage A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block some electromagnetic fields. A Faraday shield may be formed by a continuous covering of conductive material, or in the case of a Faraday cage, by a mesh of such materials. Faraday cag ...
to trap the negative energy inside positive energy. Keeping the Liza phone in the oven contains the negative energy for one day, enough for the number in Thejaswini's selfie photo, which would have been 1, to become 2. But the group realises that the oven will not be enough to keep containing the negative energy. The group decides to have a large Faraday cage custom-built. But the Faraday cage cannot be built on time, at reasonable price, through official channels. So, the group resort to having the Faraday cage built illicitly, at high cost, as otherwise Thejaswini does not have much time to live. When the Faraday cage is built, the group sets out to turn on the machine. The trip is perilous; Thejaswini's and Antony's lives are threatened at every step. Eventually, Antony succeeds in turning on the machine. Thejaswini, who had been incapacitated, begins to recover. With the Faraday cage turned on, the malevolent spirit's power over Thejaswini and Antony ends. The group returns home. Words that were said during the investigation are revisited. The camera shows the frightened Adarsh, trapped in the lab which he had set on fire, while it is said that he may be trapped in his own creation. It is said that negative energy cannot be destroyed, and that the energy within us may return in new forms. One investigator had copied the contents of the Liza phone to a computer. That investigator's words are repeated, as the camera pans to the computer, which is loading the contents of the Liza phone. A message appears on the command line: Press to activate. The desk lamp falls onto the computer keyboard, hitting the Enter key, and thus activating the copy of the Liza phone. What happens thereafter is unknown.


Cast

*
Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978/1979) is an Indian actress, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards South. Warrier made her actin ...
as Thejaswini *
Sunny Wayne Sujith Unnikrishnan (born 19 August 1983), known by his stage name Sunny Wayne is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in second lead to supporting roles. He made his acting debut in ''Second Show'' (2012), in which Dulqu ...
as Antony *
Alencier Ley Lopez Alencier Ley Lopez is an Indian film and theatre actor, who appears in Malayalam films. Lopez made his debut in the 1998 film '' Daya''; and he worked in films like '' Annayum Rasoolum'' (2013), '' Njan Steve Lopez'' (2013), and '' Maheshinte P ...
as Clement *
Niranjana Anoop Niranjana Anoop is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. Niranjana is also a trained Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer. Career Niranjana Anoop made her acting debut through the Malayalam film ''Loham'' (2015) di ...
as Safiya *
Babu Annur Babu Annur also known as C. K. Babu is an Indian film and theater actor, working predominantly in the Malayalam movie industry. He has actively been involved in theater in Malayalam as an actor since 1974. He has done more than seventy-five pla ...
as Thejaswini's father *
Shyamaprasad Shyamaprasad (born 7 November 1960) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor who works in Malayalam films. Career Shyamaprasad was born on 7 November 1960 in Palakkad, Kerala, India as the younger son of O. Rajagopal and Santhakumari. H ...
as Ramachandran *
Rony David Rony David Raj is an Indian actor and former physician who works in Malayalam films. Personal life Rony David Raj was born in Thrissur, Kerala. He is the son of film producer C. T. Rajan. He graduated with a Bachelors of Medicine & Surgery ...
as Naveen Joseph *
Srikant Murali Srikant Murali (also spelt Srikanth Murali) is an Indian actor, director and ad filmmaker. He has acted in Malayalam films such as Home (2021 film), ''Home'' (2021), Aby (film), ''Aby'' (2017), Virus (2019 film), ''Virus'' (2019) and ''Action H ...
as Philip Tharian * Shaju Sreedhar as Dr. Manoj Thomas * Kalabhavan Prajod as Bijesh * Balaji Sarma as Zakaria * Navas Vallikkunnu as Basheer * Saranjith as Adarsh Paul


Production

''Chathur Mukham'' was filmed and completed during December 2019 and January 2020 at
Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the largest and ...
.


Music

The first
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
from the film album, ''Mayakondu'', was released by
Manorama Music Manorama Music is a music company based out in Kerala, India. The label has produced and distributed film soundtracks, devotional songs, classical music, traditional chants, Vedas, poems, music albums etc. They also release Cartoon series like K ...
on 29 March 2021 in
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. The second song from the film album, the spooky ''Paathiyil theerunno'', was released by
Manorama Music Manorama Music is a music company based out in Kerala, India. The label has produced and distributed film soundtracks, devotional songs, classical music, traditional chants, Vedas, poems, music albums etc. They also release Cartoon series like K ...
on 8 July 2021 in
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.


Release


Theatrical

The film was released on 8 April 2021. Due to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
second wave in India, the movie was released in theatres for a week and then restricted because of increase in cases.


Home media

The film got digitally released on 9 July 2021 on VOD
ZEE5 ZEE5 or Z5 is an Indian subscription video on demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on We ...
and
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
dubbed version in Aha.


Reception


Box office

On the opening day, the film grossed around ₹15 crore. On the opening weekend, it grossed around ₹34.8 crore, with a one-week collection around ₹39.02 crore. Due to the clash with '' Nizhal'', collections went low and grossed ₹26 crore nett and ₹18 crore internationally. In its final run the movie grossed over ₹44 crore against a budget of ₹5.5 crore.


Critical response

''Chathur Mukham'' opened to positive reviews, most of them praising Manju Warrier's performance as a social media addicted woman possessed by her smartphone, the same way a person can be possessed by a ghost. Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South reviewed, "A Techno-Horror With Solid Writing And Great Performances", and added "This is not the kind of horror movie where you get jump scares, even though I did jump out of my chair once. You could call the film eerie and gently supernatural.". S R Praveen of The Hindu noted that the film "has a few surprises up its sleeve" and added that "there is often an attempt to provide a scientific explanation for the happenings on the screen, with some of the characters even poking fun or dismissing the traditional Malayalam horror movie ingredients of black magic and exorcism". Sajin Shrijith of Cinema Express said that "It's a film brimming with a lot of interesting and surprising ideas" and noted that "the film, primarily billed as a techno-horror thriller, manages to effectively combine elements of other sub-genres too, namely body horror and found footage." Nirmal Narayan from IBTimes said that it is a "movie made with International standards, and it has all the elements to glue the audiences in their seats". Few critics had mixed thoughts about the movie. Anna Mathews of Times of India criticised that the makers have "created some scary moments, but the horror elements are not scripted strongly and 'logically' enough", but praised Manju Warrier's performance. She noted that "Manju Warrier carries the role like only she could, being light-hearted when needed and shifting gears to feeling fearful in the most convincing manner." Behindwoods Review Board reviewed that "The film has a trailblazing plot, which had enormous scope to be an edge of the seat horror, but the over-ripened dialogues and scenes impact its quality." and summarized that "Taking a diversion from the usual paranormal films, the writers and the directors have laid a foundation for something new in the genre. The film is technically prosperous, with great cinematography and fine VFX, but an engaging screenplay could have done wonders to this flick." Sanjith Sidhardhan from OTTPlay noticed that "directors and scriptwriter to come up with novel concepts that movies like Ezra had employed, while ensuring that it passed the ‘logic’ test of the audience" and added that "Chathur Mukham also serves as a reminder of the value of relationships and the world around us that people seem to forget while obsessed with their virtual life." The Free Press Journal noted that Chathur Mukham decently scores as a supernatural thriller because of its novel premise, likable performances, and a focused screenplay that does not have any forced or unrelated subplots. It begins on a thoughtful note pointing towards the present era in which the human race is fast becoming slave of its self-invented gadgets and social networks.


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 11543916 2020s Malayalam-language films 2021 films Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Indian horror thriller films Techno-horror films 2021 horror thriller films