By Jana Monji, AsAmNews Art & Culture Writer
In Blumhouse Productions’ Evil Eye, Indian culture takes center stage. Evil Eye is one of four movies that Blumhouse premiered on Amazon Prime this month, all of which were featured as inspiration for its virtual haunted house. How effective the film’s chill factor is may depend on how much you believe in karma, reincarnation and the evil eye.
Directed by Rajeev and Elan Dassani, Evil Eye, focuses the mother-daughter relationship. Usha, as played by Sarita Choudhury has returned to India while her 29-year-old daughter remains in the United States. Like any mother anywhere, Usha has long been concerned about her daughter Pallavi finding the right man. Yet issues from Usha’s past haunt her and she’s worried that her daughter Pallavi will fall in with the wrong man. When Pallavi, portrayed by Sunita Mani, meets the man of her dreams–tall, dark, handsome, rich and Asian Indian, her superstitious mother convinces herself that the man she has never met in person, Sandeep (Omar Maskati), is the reincarnation of a man from her past. A man who died three decades ago.
Writer Madhuri Shekar has included a few red flags that might be red herrings. This prince charming is also guy who moves too fast and wants to pay for everything. That’s classic obsessive behavior, but also out of the universal fairy tale of a soul mate sweeping you off your feet and into better digs.
Pallavi could be considered a Cinderella with the school administration that she works for the Evil Stepmother who keeps her from fulfilling herself, especially since she’s always serving the needs of her students–stand-ins for the demanding stepsisters. What she really wants to do is write a novel and Sandeep may be the guy who gives her that opportunity.
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Yet Pallavi is not fatherless. Usha settled down with a reliable man, Krishnan (Bernard White). Krishnan is the voice of reason: He doesn’t believe in horoscopes or the evil eye. Does father know best?
Visually, we see trouble in paradise. The set designers and cinematographer have created parallel worlds in Usha’s Indian home and Pallavi’s American world. However, Pallavi’s vibrant world as represented by her funky apartment slowly gives way to one drained of color, pallid in comparison.
The evil eye, karma and reincarnation are themes and contradictions that permeate throughout the movie- the evil eye there and not there, present and not present, important and yet incidental. In this tale, reincarnation is part of everyday life instead of something for a chosen few.
The directors don’t overplay their hand. We’re kept wondering if Sandeep is just a spoiled rich boyfriend or something more until the very end. The horoscope scene might seem extraneous, but it forces one to consider another possibility: The mother might be the person who keeps two perfectly matched people apart.
Evil Eye invites viewers into Asian Indian culture and yet challenges the fairy tales of East and West and notions of soul mates. If you’re not particularly invested in karma, evil eye and reincarnation, then it might not have an adequate chill factor to be horror. Still, Shekar’s presentation of Indian culture between generations is given lush productions values under the Dassani twins, making this an invitation worth accepting. In Hindi and English, Evil Eye is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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