Pei Mama

Pei Mama has a premise that is almost similar to that of the recent Annabelle Sethupathi. As in that film, a family of small-time thieves get trapped in a haunted place. As in that film, the cast includes a motley bunch of comedians. As in that film, the ghosts are good people who had been wronged and ended up dead. In fact, both the films also spoof the horror comedy movie must-haves. But here, the similarity ends because when it comes to treatment they are chalk and cheese. While that film used its premise to give us a fantasy comedy, Pei Mama is content to remain the typical horror comedy.

Kozhi Kumar (Yogi Babu) and his family end up at Pattumalai Bungalow, a place believed to be haunted by ghosts. They have been hired by Veeramani (Abhishek Vinod), who mistakes them for ghostbusters. Despite scaring them off initially, the ghosts act friendly towards the family and hope to get their avenge their death by killing Veeramani and his rivals MSR and Nirmala, a couple of rich doctors, who are planning to unleash a virus for their personal gains.

One reason you might be tempted to watch Pei Mama is the fact that Yogi Babu plays its lead. The star comedian does what is required of him, coming up with amusing counters now and then, performing stunts and mocking himself for being the protagonist. He keeps repeating that he is a “dummy piece” and not a hero.

At least the first half of the film has some partly funny moments, and Sakthi Chidambaram doffs his hat to the many horror films in this genre. The fact that it also moves at a frenetic pace (which is also due to the frenzied editing) so that there isn’t exactly a dull moment. But things turn rather uninspiring in the latter half with a very clichéd flashback and a generic climax. Even the attempts at comedy (Mottai Rajendran and Rekha recreating the opening stretch of Punnagai Mannan) fall flat.