Aravind 2 

Slasher Trash with Panache?

Review:  JA Kerswell

This Indian-language slasher sequel at least wears its bloody heart on its sleeve by taking a moment to thank the character of Jason Voorhees just before the end credits. Yes, this is the Tollywood FRIDAY THE 13TH​ —albeit primarily the 2009 version. A film crew making a romance movie in Goa unwittingly raises the wrath of the local masked machete-wielding boogeyman, and he hunts them down one-by-one.
 
This is largely an in-name-only sequel to the 2005 slasher movie hit A FILM BY ARAVIND— although they both share the same director, Sekhar Suri. Perhaps confusingly, the character of Aravind isn’t the director this time and is played by a completely different actor. In the opening scenes, we see the Telugu Voorhees butchering Aravind’s friends on a camping trip deep in the woods. The authorities believe he was behind their vanishing, and he is thrown in jail and beaten.
 
However, the father of Aravind’s secret girlfriend, who is now missing, believes him and posts his bail. Unfortunately, the local mayor, whose daughter is also missing, wants him dead and sends some mean-looking bikers after him. Aravind heeds a friend’s warning and skips town, only to stumble across a film set on a Goan beach. Where, in a rather unlikely move, the director approaches him and offers him the second lead in the film. Despite the whole production just about to decamp to the very woods where his friends were killed, Aravind agrees to come along to try and shake the hulking bikers still pursuing him.
 
On the way to the woods, their bus is nearly run off the road by the killer in a truck that looks like he borrowed it from The Creeper in JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001). At a rest stop, one of the actors recognises the weird-looking vehicle and smashes the windscreen in retaliation. This puts them firmly on the shitlist of the killer, who decides it is about time he widened his killing grounds … 

As I mentioned, ARAVIND 2 is largely modelled after FRIDAY THE 13TH (2009), with the killer carrying a machete and sporting a burlap sack mask. He has his own underground lair where, unbeknownst to Aravind, his girlfriend is still alive and held captive. The film even has its own Pam Voorhees-style character (in a curly wig) and a scene where one of the surviving characters pretends to be the killer’s mother to try and fool him. However, to give credit to the director, he at least - in an arguably meta move—acknowledges where the inspiration came from; something many other Indian directors who lifted scenes from North American slasher movies in their entirety never did.
 
When the film is in full throttle slasher movie mode, it is actually a lot of fun, with plenty of cat-and-mouse scenes. Suri employs plenty of camera trickery, especially in the balletic, almost martial arts style chase scenes, which give the film a frenetic energy. In the uncut version, at least, the film also pays tribute to the FRIDAY THE 13TH series with some pretty messy kills, and a body count that is fit to burst (putting that of the 2009 film to shame). Part of the problem, of course, is that it is impossible to sustain any semblance of continued suspense across its typically gargantuan running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. Like many other Indian language slashers, it means that the film incorporates additional elements, such as comedy and action, particularly in the first hour. The slasher scenes (outside of the rapid cut opening) do not really kick in until past the first hour mark.
 
This may test the patience of some (and would surely play better to local audiences), but it is worth sticking around to enjoy when the film gets going. Especially, it’s drawn-out, epic, climactic fight sequences between the survivors and the killer in an abandoned factory that go wonderfully over the top. It is also worth noting that ARAVIND 2 largely eschews the song-and-dance numbers typical of many films from this time, apart from one near the beginning that is part of the film’s playful self-awareness. Talking of music, it is unusually eclectic, ranging from Indian pop, some medieval sounding chants, to bizarrely a Chinese Mandopop cover version of Britney Spears’ Oops… I Did It Again!
 
A FILM BY ARAVIND was considered groundbreaking in Telugu cinema, with its bucking of the norms and meta approach. It was a box office success and popular with critics, and has since gained cult status. ARAVIND 2 didn’t win the same plaudits and failed to resonate with audiences in the same way. However, if you are a subgenre fan, the sequel offers much more slasher bang for its buck.  

BODY COUNT 21: 
Female 5 / Male 16

1. Male is run over by a truck
2. Male is stabbed in the stomach
3. Male is killed and thrown through a windscreen
4. Male has his throat slit with a machete
5. Male body is found
6. Male is put in a sleeping bag and burnt alive
7. Female gets a spike through her mouth
8. Male is stabbed through with a machete
9. Male has a screwdriver forced through his ear
10. Female is stabbed to death
11. Male is killed with a meat cleaver
12. Female falls and hits her head
13. Female is decapitated with a machete
14. Male killed (method unseen)
15. Female is stabbed through the back of her neck
16. Male is shot dead
17. Male killed (method unseen)
18. Male is killed with a machete (offscreen)
19. Male is slashed with a machete
20. Male slashes his own throat
21. Male shot through the head with an arrow

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