Bhaagamathie (2018) seems like two movies in one. The first movie is a political thriller. In order to frame honest politician Eshwar Prasad (Jayaram), a cabal of crooked politicians arrange for his former assistant Chanchala (Anushka Shetty), now in jail for murdering her fiance Shakti (Unni Mukundan), to be transferred to a ruined castle where she can be interrogated by CBI officer Vaishnavi Natarajan (Asha Sarath) and local police officer Sampath (Murli Sharma), who also happens to be Shakti's brother and really shouldn't be involved in the case at all. When she's not being interrogated, Chanchala is free to roam the creepy castle totally alone; the police seem to be hoping to Yellow Wallpaper a confession out of her.
At night, though, the movie changes. The castle isn't entirely empty . . . Chanchala and a small group of comic-relief policemen are terrorized by an escalating series of supernatural events. Strange sounds, mysterious books, a crazy old man who somehow managed to wander through security long enough to make sinister predictions, and then Chanchala is attacked by an invisible assailant. Before too long, she's speaking in an unknown language and calling herself Bhaagmathie, Queen and rightful ruler of the palace, and swearing vengeance on her long-dead general Chandrasenan. This complicates the ongoing interrogation.
Between the Baahubali movies, Arundhati, and Rudhramadevi, Anushka Shetty has developed quite a talent for playing angry queens. But while the character of Bhaagamathie is spooky bombastic fun, and I will never get tired of Shetty promising to rain horrible vengeance on her enemies, her performance as Chanchala is far more interesting. At different times, she's brave, terrified, loyal desperate, and ultimately not what she seems. Almost nobody in the movie is quite what they seem. The movie itself isn't quite what it seems, either. Despite the presence of the angry ghost, it's as much film noir as it is horror, and the real monsters are very human.
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