Welcome Home - Review : A Horrific Survival Film!!!

Welcome Home is an Indian Hindi-Marathi Horror film, directed by Pushkar Mahabal. It stars Kashmira Irani, Swarda Thigle, Shashi Bhushan, Boloram Das, Tina Bhatia, Akshita Arora in the main roles. It was released on 6th November 2020 on Sony LIV.

The story of the film begins with Anuja Rao (Kashmira Irani), who teaches English and Geography in a school in a rural area of ​​Maharashtra. Her marriage is fixed and her fiance wants her to quit her job. But she does not want to leave the job. Meanwhile, she is engaged in census work with his co-teacher Neha (Swara Thigle). Everyone matters during the census. With this noble idea, Anuja Rao and her colleague Neha knock on the door of "the middle of nowhere house" on their list. The door opens with pregnant woman Prerna (Tina Bhatia). In the conversation, she explains that every time her baby is born, it cries and then dies. The scratch marks on the body of that pregnant lady, create many doubts in Anuja's mind. Other members of the house, Savitri (Akshita Arora), father Ghanshyam (Shashi Bhushan), and awkward Cook Bhola (Bolaram Das) also look suspicious. Anuja is not able to overcome the bizarre experience she had. A few days later, Anuja comes to meet Prerna and other members for the correct data for census records, again with Neha, but due to ill-time rain they had to stay there for the night and when they tried to escape, they are both imprisoned and both have to go through many hours of cruel torture.

Ankita Narang has written the film. Due to the excellent first half, Anuja, who is fighting to save her job, and Neha, helpless because of her rogue brother, emerges as enthusiastic fighters instead of victims. You easily get engrossed in the film, which doesn't make you forget that whatever that is coming next is not easy to sit through, by its dark tone which persists throughout the film. The scene where Anuja and Neha knock on the door of the outcast house in the middle of nowhere is quite chilling, even nothing horrific is shown, but you get the feeling that something is wrong after seeing Prerna.

The grandmother Leela, the father Ghanshyam, and the cook Bhola are only creepy and that's a shame, as they are not given any depth or are not well established given the duration of the film is more than 2 hours. Ankita succeeds in creating a horrific atmosphere where you are compelled to be sucked inside, with an interesting premise which if you think like a reality (this film is based on a true incident), it is a nightmare for those who work for these survey jobs. This film strongly reminded me of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, minus the Chainsaw (would have been on another level if it was included), with scenes where the maniac father is running like animals to attack the girls and slightly of Tumbbad with its impactful camera work. The film is very high on violence, brutality, and smashing heads which is quite a treat for audiences like me, but could be unsettling for faint hearts. But it also has some drawbacks. The filmmakers give the best sense of fear, anxiety, and adventure before the interval in the film, but after the interval, the grip on the film loosens. While watching the film, one realizes that the filmmakers deviate from the original story and motives and create some scenes to evoke the ‘heroism’ of just two girls. Not only that, in the last half hour of the film, the story goes awry.

Kashmira Irani has given a stellar performance as Anuja, and equally effective and impressive performance from Swarda Thigle as Neha. Sashi Bhushan as Ghanshyam has given a kind of performance which is enough to give you nightmares, and Tina Bhatia is good even she has minimal dialogues. Boloram Das is awkwardly chilling as Cook Bhola, and his dialogue "Main Jaun Bhaiya" is strangely very terrifying. Akshita Arora as Leela is good and managed to look creepy and to give the eerie vibes. 

The cinematography by Saee Bhope is good in some parts, which has a resemblance from Tumbbad, but overall very ordinary could have been good. The majority of the film looks like a daily soap. Background music is also good but sometimes it's unnecessarily loud.

Welcome Home is a treat for horror fans. This kind of horror or say survival movies have not been well explored in Indian cinemas, only NH10 is the one that is coming to my mind. The film relies on violence and torture but the film has also underlined the ugly and bitter truth of child abuse and sexual abuse prevailing in society. Despite its sluggish and derailed second half, except the climax, it's a good attempt by the writer and the director in this genre and is surely an unmissable film. Sony LIV is here to stay and to rule.

Rating:- 3/5

Now Streaming on Sony LIV. 

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