Rowdy Pictures’ Connect (dubbed from the Tamil film of the same name; A) is a horror thriller. Anna (Haniya Nafisa) is distraught when her doctor-father, Joseph Benoy (Vinay Rai), dies due to COVID-19. She tries to make contact with her dead father through an Ouija Board practitioner, but things go awfully wrong. Anna’s behaviour becomes weird. How Anna’s mother, Susan (Nayanthara), and maternal grandfather, Arthur (Sathyaraj), come to her rescue with the help of a pastor, Father Augustine (Anupam Kher), is what the film is all about.
Ashwin Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar have written a story and screenplay, which offer no novelty as incidents like those in the drama have been seen in many earlier horror films. The only new angle is that Anna gets possessed by a spirit during the COVID-19 lockdown when connecting with people physically was very difficult. However, there is almost nothing much other than this novel angle, which can sustain the audience’s interest. In fact, in a bid to probably keep the chills for the climax, the writers don’t let the thrill element enter the drama on earlier occasions, and they do so by abruptly moving to the next day when the viewers want to know the outcome of a scene left incomplete the previous day. What’s more, Susan’s naivety seems silly, to say the least. For, she refuses to believe her father when he says that he fears, there’s something strange going on with Anna. And this, in spite of herself hearing strange sounds in the house in which she and Anna are quarantined because of COVID-19. How can any mother live in denial for several days, that too, when she herself notices that her daughter is behaving in a weird manner? Even the climax sequence does not afford the thrills and chills that are enough to make up for the lack of them through the rest of the drama. Jolly Shibu and Seema Sreedhar’s dialogues are routine.
Nayanthara does an ordinary job as Susan. Haniya Nafisa is alright as Anna. Sathyaraj lends good support in the role of Arthur. Anupam Kher is okay as Father Augustine. Vinay Rai is natural in a brief role as Joseph Benoy. Avinash (as Father Alex) and Mekha Rajan (as the Ouija Board practitioner) lend decent support.
Ashwin Saravanan’s direction is average. He has not been able to make a horror fare which sends shivers down the spines of the viewers. Prithvi Chandrasekhar’s music and Akanksha Sethi’s lyrics are functional. Background music is quite impactful. Manikanthan Krishnamachari’s cinematography is fairly nice. ‘Real’ Sathish’s stunts and action scenes are good. Siva Sankar and Sreeraman’s art direction is appropriate. Richard Kevin’s editing leaves something to be desired. Dubbing is good.
On the whole, Connect will not connect much with the Hindi film-going audience and will actually go down in cinema history as a non-starter. Besides lack of promotion, the film also lacks in merits.
Released on 30-12-’22 at Sterling (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.