Erida Review : ​A thriller that doesn't click

Story: A femme fatale and her much older husband have a windfall at a game of poker. But the gambling doesn't end at the cards table

The topmost question when you see Erida is probably going to be, ‘Why?’ But this has little to do with the twists raised by the dark thriller. The question is for director VK Prakash and writer YV Rajesh, who worked together previously on the passable Marubhoomiyile Aana. It is also for actors Samyuktha Menon, Nassar and Kishore. For even though it is a movie that seems to have been made within the restrictions of the lockdown and for OTT - considering the sexual innuendos and language - it feels like a waste of talent.

Samyuktha is a femme fatale married to a much older, wealthy, poker playing gambler, portrayed by Nassar. After a particularly lucrative game, the couple retreat to his extravagant country house, and we learn that things are not as they are made to seem. A third character, played by an almost unrecognisable Kishore, enters the scene uninvited and adds to the twists. A hasty reference is made to Erida, the Greek Goddess of Strife, and like the rest of the movie, it feels disjointed. The topmost question when you see Erida is probably going to be, ‘Why?’ But this has little to do with the twists raised by the dark thriller. The question is for director VK Prakash and writer YV Rajesh, who worked together previously on the passable Marubhoomiyile Aana. It is also for actors Samyuktha Menon, Nassar and Kishore. For even though it is a movie that seems to have been made within the restrictions of the lockdown and for OTT - considering the sexual innuendos and language - it feels like a waste of talent.

Samyuktha is a femme fatale married to a much older, wealthy, poker playing gambler, portrayed by Nassar. After a particularly lucrative game, the couple retreat to his extravagant country house, and we learn that things are not as they are made to seem. A third character, played by an almost unrecognisable Kishore, enters the scene uninvited and adds to the twists. A hasty reference is made to Erida, the Greek Goddess of Strife, and like the rest of the movie, it feels disjointed. While somewhere in the film is the seed of what could have been a fairly engaging film noir, the story just progresses with many flaws, and in an annoying and almost laughable manner.

At 124 minutes, the film is unnecessarily long. Scenes are dragged out, particularly towards the climax. The end tries to throw up another twist, or is it; the viewer is probably beyond caring by then. This lockdown caper can be given a miss.