Chhorii
2
frustrates
way
more
than
it
frightens,
sighs
Sukanya
Verma.
From
female
foeticide
to
child
marriage,
Chhorii‘s
running
theme
of
social
evils
meets
spooky
scares
seeks
to
engage
its
viewer
by
startling
and
enlightening
them
in
turns.
But
Director
Vishal
Furia’s
limp
and
unscary
sequel
achieves
neither
in
spite
of
his
constant
dedication
to
creepy
imagery.
Heavily
relying
on
paranoia
and
paranormal
alone,
this
hastily
whipped-up
follow-up,
unlike
the
first
one
that
slickly
adapted
Furia’s
Marathi
horror
Lapachhapi,
is
staggeringly
devoid
of
significance
and
storytelling.
Offering
nothing
more
than
an
empty
allegory
on
patriarchal
control,
Chhorii
2‘s
bigger
crime
is
how
quickly
it
collapses
under
the
weight
of
its
drowsy
momentum
and
laughable
attempt
at
giving
us
the
heebie-jeebies.
Spending
a
bulk
of
its
running
time
meandering
across
corridors
strewn
in
silly
jump
scares
and
ritualistic
gobbledygook,
Chhorii
2
frustrates
way
more
than
it
frightens.
In
the
first
one,
Nushrratt
Bharuccha
plays
Sakshi
—
a
strong-willed,
pregnant
woman
leaving
city
life
behind
to
adjust
in
a
rural
Haryanvi
setup,
only
to
discover
the
cruel
history
of
her
deceptively
modest
husband
and
his
male
child-obsessed
family.
Chhorii
2
resumes
seven
years
after
the
traumatic
events
of
the
past
when
Sakshi
is
forced
to
return
to
the
damned
village
holding
her
seven-year-old
daughter
captive
for
sacrificial
purposes.
Where
Chhorii
drew
its
ghostly
mood
across
the
visual
of
tall
fields,
the
sequel
unravels
inside
claustrophobic
caves
constructed
beneath
the
well.
For
whatever
lame
reason,
the
village
chief
wants
a
mysterious,
menacing
Soha
Ali
Khan
to
perform
mumbo
jumbo
on
Sakshi’s
abducted,
allergic-to-sun
daughter
while
her
mommy
tries
to
reach
her
across
a
maze
of
dimly-lit
tunnels,
ghoulish
children
and
ghoongat-clad
souls.
Between
kids
unconvincingly
tossed
against
its
gender
politics,
laborious
walks
into
hallucinatory
tricks
and
traps
and
paedophile
demons
treated
like
demigods
for
no
apparent
reason,
Chhorii
2‘s
rudimentary
filmmaking
struggles
to
make
sense
of
its
regressive
horrors.
Touching
on
the
subject
of
a
minor’s
sexuality
as
triflingly
as
it
throws
visuals
of
a
supernatural
Soha
and
her
charred-face
alter
ego
with
CCTV
camera
skills,
Chhorii
2‘s
randomness
knows
no
bounds.
What
is
Soha
playing
exactly?
A
witch?
A
wife?
A
drone
camera?
A
botched
VFX
file
that
should
have
never
left
the
recycle
bin?
Sloppiness
abounds
in
sights
of
burnt
skin
looking
like
sundried
tomatoes
and
sounds
of
a
beastly
half
belching
so
hard,
it’s
hard
to
tell
if
it’s
a
cry
for
antacid
or
another
wife.
The
coast
may
be
clear
for
a
third
Chhorii
flick
but
it’s
all
for
a
lost
cause.
Chhorii
2
streams
on
Amazon
Prime
Video.
Chhorii
2
Review
Rediff
Rating:
