Hagga

Horror films have become rare in the Kannada film industry lately. Hagga aims to fill the gap.
Every time a girl child is born in a distant village, an elderly woman of the household gets taken away through a rope (hagga) by a supernatural force. An intrigued journalist (Harshika Poonachcha) joins Ramanna or Ram (Venu) to dig out the truth. As they probe deeper, they find out about Savitri (Anu Prabhakar) and Trichandeshwari (Bhavani Prakash), and their decades-old rivalry. The two are now fighting in a distant realm and the repercussions are felt in this village. What is the reason behind their enmity?

The film stumbles in the first half with the age-old storyline. Hagga takes off only when Savitri aka Anu Prabhakar’s bit comes into play, but then again, that story also becomes yet another recycled plot, lacking emotional depth. The climax, which is supposed to hold the movie together, is also clumsily written.

Anu Prabhakar brings in her years of experience for Hagga, and has excelled in her role. So does Bhavani Prakash, who plays a worthy opponent. Besides the duo, other actors have extended good support to the storyline. But since the story itself is very predictable and one-dimensional, there is hardly anything to take notice of. Some scenes with supernatural forces done with VFX stand out, but the outdated storytelling tropes don’t let the scenes make an impact.

Hagga has its visual moments, and actors have given their best for the roles, but there is nothing more to take home from this monotonous supernatural horror thriller.