''Gatham'' () is a 2020 Indian

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 ...

-language

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 Kiran Kondamadugula and starring Bhargava Poludasu, Rakesh Galebhe, and Poojitha Kuraparthi. It premiered on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

on 6 November 2020. The film was selected in the Indian Panorama of feature films 2020 and was screened at

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

in January 2021. Entire film was shot in California, USA during extreme winter conditions that lasted 28 days from December to January 2019. Originally, the makers planned for a theatrical release, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, it was decided to release the film through the OTT service

. The film was released worldwide on 6 November 2020 to generally positive reviews. After the successful run with

, Gatham is streaming o
Netflix
currently.

Plot

Rishi (Rakesh Galebhe) wakes up from a coma and remembers nothing from his past. He sets out on a journey along with his girlfriend Meera (Poojitha Kuraparthi) to visit Rishi's father, but their car breaks down in a route. A stranger (Bhargava Poludasu) offers them a stay at his house, and as their stay extends, Rishi gets nightmares and the stranger behaves freakishly. With each passing moment, there are startling twists, and many dots between Rishi's past and the stranger get connected, which leaves the couple shell-shocked. What is Rishi's connection with the stranger and how does he and Meera come out of the weird situation is the story of Gatham.

Cast

* Bhargava Poludasu as Arjun * Rakesh Galebhe as Rishi * Poojitha Kuraparthi as Meera * Thirumudi Thulasiraman as Ramesh * Harsha Vardhan Pratap as Harsha * Uss Uppuluri as Dr. Srikanth * Sof Puchley as Sarah Peters * Raghu Gopal as Laxman * Prasad Rani as Dr. Viswa * Rohit Devullapally as Care Taker * Lakshmi Bharadwaj

Production

The film was produced in the United States. It is based on Kiran Kondamadugula's own short film and was shot in

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

Sricharan Pakala Sricharan Pakala is an Indian music composer who works in Telugu cinema, Telugu films. Early life and career Pakala was born in Visakhapatnam into a Telugu language, Telugu-speaking family. Pakala entered the film industry as a music directo ...

scored the music for the film.

Release

Due to

, the film was only released on

on 6 November.

Reception

Rajeev Masand Rajeev Masand (born 13 March 1976) is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films rel ...

praised the movie quoting "How a scrappy little indie movie found its way to an organic success!" Vishal Menon of ''

Film Companion Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-defunct digital platform Film Compani ...

'' wrote, "''Gatham'' is one of those films that’s impossible to talk about without revealing spoilers but it’s a credit to its makers that viewers feel like running around explaining the crafty deception of the film they’ve just watched." Sangeetha Devi Dundoo, writing for ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', said that "''Gatham'' is a deceptively engaging thriller." Neeshita Nyayapati, writing for ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'', summarized Gatham as "Uncomfortable and gritty, Gatham will keep you engaged from the get-go." Bhuvanesh Chandar of

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

wrote, "Outstanding suspense cinema that checks all boxes." Sushri Sahu of

Mashable Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...

wrote, "A Lackluster NRI Film That Reveals Itself To Be A Taut Psychological Thriller"

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 13105536 2020 films 2020 thriller films Indian thriller films 2020s Telugu-language films Foreign films set in the United States Films shot in the United States Films scored by Sricharan Pakala Amazon Prime Video original films