Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Screening – When I think of Indian cinema, I think of brightly colored cinematography and singing and dancing, not an evening of performing death rituals while slowly descending into a world of dark magic like in Sidharth Srinivasan’s surreal thriller, Kriya (2020). Screening as part of the 2020 virtual Fantasia Film festival, Kriya, meaning “action” or “deed” in Hindi, is a mystifying look into the sacred duties of performing the last rites of the dead.

While working his DJ gig at a nightclub, Neel (Noble Luke) becomes entranced by the alluring Sitara (Navjot Randhawa) as she dances in the crowd. Luring him with her beauty and intrigue, Sitara has Neel drive them to her isolated family home. When they arrive, they find that Sitara’s father has passed away, with her sister, housemaid, mother, and family overseer mourning his death. Unable to accept his death, Sitara sinks further into madness, taking the unsuspecting Neel with her. Eventually, Neel finds himself with no way out, having been duped into performing as Chief Mourner and carrying out funeral rights for the seemingly cursed family.

Featuring an emotionally effective score and rollercoaster of a narrative, Kriya deals with family and emotional inheritance, showing unaddressed, deep-seated trauma inevitably turning into a family curse. It is not quite as emotionally heavy as Hereditary (2018), but similarly, writer/director Sidharth Srinivasan gently descended me into a dark and cursed world without me noticing until it was too late — startling images began to creep their way into the film, and due to the mystique of this cursed house and the ritual folklore at the center of the events, it was difficult to discern reality from nightmare.

The film’s sound design and musical score worked overtime to set the somber mood of the film — eerie and slow taiko drums sound off as the film unfolds, like a march towards death, or a funeral procession. The acting was well enough, however, I sometimes felt as though there was not enough thought behind the delivery from some of the actors — lines were sometimes rattled off in moments where a pause would have done the dialogue and scene more justice, though this might be a cultural thing though. Otherwise, the script carried the cast through a psychologically charged narrative that was steeped in Hindu culture and served to showcase the capability of Sidharth Srinivasan to take folklore and sift it through a horrific filter.

Kriya is a cultural deep-dive into the darkest regions of the human experience and is one journey that is well worth the psychological trip to hell and back…and back again. Kriya is a magnetic story, each line, each event pulled me further into the abyss of this light horror that takes a feeble swipe at the patriarchally dominant customs, but at least delivers on creating an enthralling narrative that shows the darkness often enveloping otherwise happy looking homes. It is a slightly arthouse looking movie that plays out like a hallucination — for anyone looking for a good horror trip, Kriya is one to watch.

MOVIE RATING — 7 out of 10