Kakuda (film)

Kakuda is a 2024 Hindi-language comedy horror film directed by Aditya Sarpotdar and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, under RSVP Movies. It stars Riteish Deshmukh, Sonakshi Sinha and Saqib Saleem in the lead roles. It is written by Chirag Garg and Avinash Dwivedi.

Plot
The story takes place in Rathodi village, which is cursed by Kakuda, a dwarf ghost. Every house in the village has two doors: one normal and one small. Every Tuesday at 7:15 pm, Kakuda enters the village. If he finds a small door closed, he enters that house, kicks a man residing there, and that person develops a hump and dies after 13 days.

Sunny (Saqib Saleem), a resident of Rathodi, loves Indira (Sonakshi Sinha) from another village. However, Indira’s father rejects Sunny because he can’t speak English. Later, Sunny and Indira plan to elope and marry. Sunny’s friend warns him that their chosen day is Tuesday and that he must ensure the small door is open by 7:15 pm, or he will be kicked by Kakuda.

After they marry, Sunny fails to return in time and gets kicked by Kakuda. Indira insists they go to Delhi to see a doctor to fix the hump, but the villagers, including Sunny's father, refuse, saying it’s a curse with no remedy. Stubbornly, Indira, who doesn’t believe in ghosts, takes him to the doctor. The hump is fixed, but it returns the next day. At the hospital, a watchman gives Indira a card for a ghost hunter named Victor (Ritesh Deshmukh), so she decides to seek his help.

To learn more about the ghost, Victor uses his special ghost recognition equipment and paints a picture of a small house near a well on an empty canvas. On their way back, Sunny, Indira, Victor, and Kilvish walk through a crop field where a scarecrow with many flies comes alive and attacks them. They save themselves and leave, frightened. Victor asks if they know of an empty well, and when they say no, he uses a ghost radio to capture ghosts talking. From this, he hears a description of a place with an empty well.

When the group goes to that location, Victor sees a message on the wall saying, "If you face any health problems, please call Pelwan Master." Meanwhile, Sunny and Kilvish dig a hole and find two skeletons, one with a hat. Kakuda gets angry and attacks them again, but they escape. Victor examines the hat, which has the name of a circus on it. He and Indira visit the circus to find the connection with Kakuda. The owner explains that they had a dwarf famous for his healing right kick. During a circus show in Rathodi, the dwarf decided to stay behind. He cured people with his kick, earning the nickname "Good Luck" and settled in the village, losing touch with the circus owner.

Victor decides to ask the villagers about Kakuda but finds them planning Sunny's funeral, knowing he will die in 13 days. Determined, Victor plans to speak to Kakuda directly. He tells Indira they will go to the crop field at night to confront him.

At her house Indira while venting angrily asks Gomti why Kakuda torments the villagers. Gomti, in a ghostly voice, reveals that the villagers burned Kakuda's house but then has no recollection of saying this. Later at night Victor sneaks into the house, and sees Gomti walking. Thinking he sees Indira, he follows her, calling out, but she doesn’t respond. Indira appears from behind, and Victor realizes he was following her twin sister. Indira explains that due to her sister's sleepwalking her engagement was broken and the village ostrisized her, so she decided to lock herself in her room every night. They decide to follow her and find her in the crop field laughing at the scarecrow. When they call out to Gomti, the scarecrow comes alive. Victor threatens to burn it, but Kakuda kicks the ground, causing a crack to spread. Kilvish then burns the scarecrow with a lighter, and Kakuda enters Gomti.

In a ghostly voice, Gomti reveals that Kakuda was friends with a widow and her son, whom no one was allowed to meet. When the widow had a bad backache, her son sought Kakuda's help at night. Pelwan Master instigated the villagers, accusing Kakuda of an affair with the widow. They burned his house, and Kakuda fled to the crop field, where he died after 13 hours. The widow and her son were buried alive. To avenge his suffering, Kakuda returns every Tuesday at 7:15 pm. If the small door is closed, he kicks an adult resident, and after 13 days, representing the hours he suffered, he kills them. After revealing this, Kakuda leaves Gomti's body.

Victor, Indira, Gomti, Sunny, and Kilvish plan to defeat Kakuda by cutting off his right foot, which holds his power. They decide to leave the small door open to lure him in. When Kakuda arrives and sees Gomti, Victor tries to chop off his leg. However, Sunny shouts for Indira, distracting Kakuda. Kakuda enters Gomti and dares Victor to cut his leg, grabbing Victor by the collar and throwing him against the wall. Kakuda then throws the knife at Victor, embedding it in the wall. Sunny challenges Kakuda to a man-to-man fight, prompting Kakuda to leave Gomti's body and attack Sunny.

Pinning Sunny down, Kakuda, in Gomti's body, attacks Victor. However, Victor realizes that Kakuda only possesses Gomti when she falls asleep. He instructs Kilvish to keep Gomti awake at all costs. Victor then lights the dug-up graves of the widow and her son, which draws Kakuda to him. Indira, dressed as Gomti, distracts Kakuda, allowing Victor to finally cut off his leg, causing him to disappear into thin air. With Kakuda gone, Sunny and the villagers are freed from the curse. Sunny's father finally accepts Indira as his daughter-in-law. Victor leaves the village, asking Gomti to visit him in Delhi soon, hinting at a possible relationship between them.

Some time later, one of the old men is attacked by an unseen force at night after he opens his door.

Cast

 * Riteish Deshmukh as Victor Jacobs
 * Sonakshi Sinha as Indira / Gomati (Dual role)
 * Saqib Saleem as Sunny
 * Aasif Khan as Kilvish
 * Mahesh Jadhav as Kakuda
 * Rajendra Gupta as Indira's father
 * Neelu Kohli as Indira's mother
 * Taniya Kalrra as Gilloti
 * Yogendra Tikku as Kishanchand, Sunny's father
 * Alok Gutch as Bespectacled old villager
 * Sameer Khakkar as Kalamandi Goya

Production
The film was announced by the producer Ronnie Screwvala on 20 July 2021.

Filming
Principal photography of the movie started on 20 July 2021. The film was shot in places across Gujarat including near port area of Mandvi,Kutch. The unit wrapped up on 17 September 2021.

Release
Initially scheduled for a theatrical release, it was changed to a streaming release in ZEE5 for 12 July 2024.

Music
The soundtrack is composed by Gulraj Singh and lyrics is written by Manoj Yadav.

Reception
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express commented "‘Kakuda’ jumps into a predictable hump, and stays there." Reviewing for Rediff.com Deepa Gahlot gave the film 2 stars only and stated "Kakuda has a paint-by-numbers, catch-the-trend-before-it-fades feel to it." Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times gave a negative verdict "The film suffers from an extremely dull screenplay where events unfold in the most bizarre manner, not laving any impact." Sana Farzeen of India Today observed "The story is quite a winner, but their screenplay could have been tighter."

Devesh Sharma of Filmfare also gave a negative review "The film's feeble attempts at humour fall flat, failing to provoke even a chuckle."

Shreyanka Mazumdar of News18 gave 3.5/5 stars and commented "Despite the flaws, the film is an enjoyable film that effectively uses folklore to create a sense of pervasive dread." Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in explored "The movie has very mild scares, ample tomfoolery, and no ambition of being anything beyond a time-passer."