Neelavelicham (film)

Neelavelicham is a 2023 Indian Malayalam language horror thriller film directed and co-produced by Aashiq Abu under his banner OPM Cinemas. The film stars Tovino Thomas, Rima Kallingal and Roshan Mathew in lead roles, with Shine Tom Chacko, Rajesh Madhavan, Abhiram Radhakrishnan and Pramod Veliyanad in supporting roles. The film is based on Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's renowned short story of the same name and is also a reboot of the 1964 blockbuster, Bhargavi Nilayam. The supplementary screenplay for the film was crafted by Hrishikesh Bhaskaran.

The film was released on 20 April 2023.

Plot
The film starts with an unknown person entering an abandoned mansion at midnight and being scared away by a ghostly figure in the dark.

A Dispirited writer, comes to stay in the mansion, Bhargavi Nilayam, which is situated in a village. As he enters the mansion, the citizens of the village stand and watch in shock. As the writer enters the house, he finds it to be completely dusty, by which he deduces that nobody has stayed in the house in a long time. Nevertheless, he starts cleaning the house as he doesn't have another place to stay. Later, as he goes into a restaurant to have food, the writer asks the owner of the restaurant whether they could deliver meals to his house, to which the owner initially agrees. When the owner asks him which house he stays in, he says that he stays in Bhargavi Nilayam, hearing which the owner and the customers in the restaurant are shocked. The restaurant owner then says that the food cannot be delivered as the lunch carrier is broken and the writer says he'll come to the restaurant to have food instead.

That evening, the writer goes to meet his friends and when he tells them that he's staying in Bhargavi Nilayam, they reveal the reason as to why everybody's terrified of even thinking about that mansion. In the 1950s, there lived a beautiful girl named Bhargavi. She had committed suicide due to love failure by jumping into a well and people believed that the ghost of Bhargavi still lived there, which is why everybody was scared of going near the mansion. They also tell him that another person named Nanukuttan was in love with her. After hearing this, the writer doesn't pay heed to their words and tells them that Bhargavi wouldn't hurt him. He even starts talking to Bhargavi's ghost.

The next morning, everybody is surprised to see the writer alive as they had thought that the ghost had killed him the previous night. When the writer goes to the restaurant to have breakfast, the owner tells him the same thing that his friends had told him the previous day. The writer tells the hotel owner that he has decided to write a story on Bhargavi. Later, as the writer sits down to write the story, he hears noises coming from a storeroom in the other side of the house. As he goes into the storeroom, he finds a box in there but cannot find the key that can open the box. He then opens the box with a knife that he has with him. Inside the box, he finds a picture of Bhargavi. He also finds a strand of curly hair wrapped in a piece of newspaper which says something about a dead body being found on a train and a love letter to Bhargavi written by Nanukuttan. He decides to uncover more facts about Bhargavi and her death so he can complete the story. After he asks a few people, he realises that Bhargavi's death might have been a murder and not a suicide like the villagers had been thinking all this time. One night, as he is writing a story, the kerosene in his lamp runs out and he goes to his friends' house to get some kerosene to fill the lamp. When he returns home, he sees that the entire house is filled with an extremely bright, blue-coloured light.

Bhargavi is young, a college-going girl who is really good in singing and dancing. She decides to approach Sasi Kumar, a singer who is also her neighbour to play the sitar for her programme in the college youth fest. He agrees to do it when asked and they begin practicing together. The programme is a huge success and Bhargavi and Sasi Kumar begin practicing together for more programmes like dramas and singing competitions. Eventually, they develop a romantic relationship. During Bhargavi's performance, we see Narayanan, Bhargavi's cousin who is infatuated with her and plans to marry her. He doesn't like other men getting close to Bhargavi. One day, as Bhargavi sends fruits to Sasi Kumar's house, Narayanan happens to visit him. He doesn't create any trouble as to not raise any suspicion and leaves soon, though he confirms that Bhargavi and Sasi Kumar are in a relationship. After he gets home, Narayanan tells his aunt that he wants to marry Bhargavi. But she objects to this and says that she still hasn't completed her education. When Narayanan sees Bhargavi, he confronts her about her relationship, to which she replies that she isn't ready to marry anyone except Sasi Kumar. Narayanan decides to get rid of Sasi Kumar to get what he wants. He later writes a letter to Bhargavi saying he would do anything to make sure that he would be the one marrying her. This is the same letter that Basheer finds in the box and Narayanan is revealed to be Nanukuttan.

That evening, Sasi Kumar decides to go to Lucknow due to some political issues rising in the village. As he boards the train, Narayanan accompanies him on the same train, saying he has to go to Delhi for a job interview. Narayanan gives Sasi Kumar a bunch of bananas, saying Bhargavi had sent them for him. He accepts the bananas and starts eating them while on the train. Soon, he starts to get uneasy and finds difficulty in breathing. As he asks Narayanan for some water, he refuses to give some, which is when it is revealed that Narayanan had poisoned the bananas before giving it to Sasi Kumar. Sasi Kumar dies on the train soon after. Bhargavi becomes very troubled after not seeing Sasi Kumar for a long time and begins to get worried.

A few days later, as Bhargavi is still waiting for Sasi Kumar to return, Narayanan visits Bhargavi while she is alone in the house and reveals to her that Sasi Kumar is dead and he's not coming back. Bhargavi starts to cry and says that her marriage is already over and Narayanan cannot marry her anymore. Narayanan gets angry and throws Bhargavi into the well and Bhargavi dies.

The story shifts to the present, where the writer is about to finish writing the story. During one night, as the writer is standing near the well, seemingly talking to Bhargavi's ghost, Narayanan appears and tells the writer that he was the one who killed Bhargavi. The writer tells Narayanan that he can have the entire story and tells him to let him go but Narayanan says that since the writer already knows the complete truth, it's his need to get the writer killed and they start fighting. As the writer is severely hurt, it starts raining and eventually, Narayanan reveals that Sasi Kumar didn't die only because of the poison and that Narayanan had choked him to death before getting out of the train. As they are fighting, the reach the well and start fighting near it. Narayanan almost manages to drown the writer in the well but he himself slips into the well instead and drowns. The writer decides to help Narayanan get out of the well and passes a rope but as Narayanan tries to grab the rope, Bhargavi's spirit drags him deeper down the well and he dies the same way Bhargavi had died many years back. As the writer looks over the well to help Narayanan to climb back, the bright blue light appears again, this time from the well. Along with it, the story which Narayanan had thrown into the well prior to the fight, hovers up, indicating Bhargavi's desire to get the story published.

Development
Neelavelicham is the second remake of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's short story of the same name, following the 1964 adaptation Bhargavi Nilayam. Director Aashiq said that he had read the original short story in his school library without initially knowing that it was the plot of Bhargavi Nilayam.

The film was announced in January 2021 by director Aashiq Abu on the 113th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter and Malayalam literary writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, along with a poster depicting an ancient Kerala-style home buried in the darkness and gently glowing with moonlight. The house is surrounded by trees and birds, yet upon closer inspection, the front yard is blood-splattered.

Casting
Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kunchacko Boban, Rima Kallingal, and Soubin Shahir were initially cast in the project. However, because to their hectic schedules and the COVID-19 outbreak in India, Prithviraj and Kunchacko opt out of the film. It was assumed that Asif Ali will take Kunchacko part. The identical poster was released in March 2022, but with a new cast of Tovino Thomas, Kallingal, Mathew, and Chacko. It was also stated that Shaiju Khalid was replaced by cinematographer Girish Gangadharan. This film marks Abu and Thomas fourth collaboration, following after Mayaanadhi (2017), Virus (2019) and Naradan (2022).

Filming
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the filming was delayed. The pooja and the principal photography of the film was kickstarted on 25 April 2022 in Pinarayi, Thalassery. The film was completed in mid-August 2022.

Music
The original songs were composed by M. S. Baburaj. They were remade by Bijibal and Rex Vijayan.

Marketing
The makers published a teaser poster featuring Thomas in traditional costume with a white shirt, mundu, and briefcase in his hand, inspecting a dusty room in June 2022, along with the film's December 2022 release date. On 30 July 2022, the second poster of the film, showing Kallingal as Bhargavi in a dance posture with her robe spread like butterfly wings against the backdrop of a serene scenic area, was unveiled. On 1 November 2022, marked as Kerala Day, Mathew greeted his followers with a look poster depicting him seated on the porch outside the house, wearing a white dhoti and white vest, with spectacles.

Controversies
In March 2023, music composer Baburaj's daughter sent a legal notice to Aashiq Abu and Bijibal against them using Baburaj's song from Bhargavi Nilayam in Neelavelicham. She complained that the remade versions of Baburaj's songs present in the movie had been used without prior permission and was made in such a way that destroys the uniqueness and essence of the original versions.