Evil Eye is psychological thriller directed by twin brothers, Elan and Rajeev Dassani, and written by Madhuri Shekar, adapting her Amazon Original audio play of the same name. It follows Pallavi Kharti (Sunita Mani), who is still single at 29-years-old, and not necessarily in a rush to get married, much to the dismay of her mother, Usha (Sarita Choudhury), who despite currently living in Delhi, is still trying to get her daughter setup with a suitable boy. However, while waiting for one of the suitors, another man, Sandeep (Omar Maskati), makes a move, and the two start a seemingly perfect relationship. But as time goes on, and Usha finds out more about the guy, she begins to feel off about him.
Whenever Usha thinks about Sandeep, she gets flashes to old memories of what appears to be some kind of abusive relationship. While everything from his character to his horoscope seems perfect, even her husband Krishnan (Bernard White) seems to be fond of him, she becomes more convinced that Sandeep is the reincarnation of the man who abused her. Pallavi of course doesn’t believe her mother, despite the strange coincidences such as Sandeep being born nine months after the abuser died, and the fact that Sandeep has a questionable history with women who have nothing good to say.
The film is attempting to play on the dynamic of whether or not Usha is disillusion, but those attempts don’t totally work. Not just because of the strange coincidences, but the film doesn’t do much to frame Usha as overthinking everything. Red flags are planted fairly early when Sandeep manages to convince Pallavi to quit her job, and move to a new place that he’ll pay for. The pieces fit too well for it all to be a red herring. Anyone familiar with Indian cinema knows that reincarnation is a common theme, though not so much nowadays, but with films like Karz, Karan Arjun, Madhumati, Om Shanti Om, etc., it’s a place that has been explored before.
Unfortunately, Evil Eye doesn’t lean into the drama inherit in the story hard enough, especially not like some of those Bollywood melodramas I mentioned. It spends most of its time playing out like a mystery, but with an answer so obvious that it sucks the thrills right out. As if it simply can’t be a given that Sandeep is the abuser reincarnated, and allow that knowledge to inform the story and the suspense, though I could understand that potentially alienating non-South Asian audiences. Because Usha has been so committed to the case from the get-go, it only makes Pallavi look more clueless as a character.
Evil Eye is a part of a collection of four films released on Amazon Prime Video under the banner, Welcome To The Blumhouse. October 6th saw the release of Black Box and The Lie, and on October 13th, we got Nocturne and Evil Eye. While I’m only reviewing Evil Eye, all these films suffer from fairly similar issues, and honestly none of them are all that good – I would say Block Box is the best, and even that one isn’t necessarily anything to write home about. They all seem to have this problem of having a good premise, but taking the simplest and most basic possible approach to working that into a narrative. They’re small movies that all feel small in every sense.
Like I mentioned before, Evil Eye doesn’t do a whole lot with its ideas. It feels undercooked. A phone call between Pallavi and Usha a little over halfway through the film gets so heated, it results in Pallavi lashing out at her mother, talking about how she never seemed to appreciate her independence before, and now she is being chastised for letting Sandeep convince her to quit her job. This is all we get in terms of informing the history of their relationship, and while Choudhury and Mani are totally great and capable performers, they are barely able to make the writing here resonate despite touching on some relatable experiences.
There are also other things aside from its underwhelming plotting that doesn’t totally work. Maskati is incredibly bland here, not doing much to create a distinct personality with Sandeep’s character, not that there’s much in the script to allow it. Aside from a few scenes in Delhi, the film is set in New Orleans, but you wouldn’t be able to tell since it carries none of the vibrancy you would expect from a city with such a rich culture. Also, and I know this is a nitpick, but Pallavi doesn’t know how to make chai? It’s not a hard thing to do! I can make killer chai, and I only learned how to do it by simply watching my mom.
Jokes aside, I would consider Evil Eye to be a disappointment. It’s not that there aren’t good things here. I think the family dynamic between Choudhury and Mani is perfectly solid and believable, and their performances, along with White are quite good. The story being simple is not inherently a bad thing, but usually when that’s the case, it gives the filmmakers an opportunity to make big, bold choices with the filmmaking itself, and sadly, the Dassani brothers deliver a movie that is merely adequate on all technical fronts with very little stylistic flourishes to speak of. Granted, I can’t imagine them having a ton of resources at their disposal, this is a Blumhouse production after all, but one can’t help but see all the missed opportunities on display as they’re watching it. As far as South Asian representation goes, I would say this is a win, (hey, I know it ain’t ideal, but we should be allowed to have mediocre movies too, right?) but aside from that, I don’t see much that is memorable or interesting. I do hope that Madhuri Shekar and the Dassani brothers are given more chances in the future, like many white, male filmmakers who don’t necessarily come out of the gate with a winner, and I look forward to see how they grow and evolve as storytellers. Although, I will say, a movie that basically tells you to listen to your parents is possibly the most Indian thing ever.
Evil Eye is now available on Amazon Prime Video.