Evil Eye (2020)

Evil Eye is part of the Welcome to Blumhouse series of films from Blumhouse Studios, which features 8 films that will debut on Amazon streaming. The first four air this October, the rest in 2021.

Evil Eye is about a girl named Pallavi (Sunita Mani) who lives alone in the US while her parents live back home in India. Her mother Usha (Sarita Choudhury) worries about her daughter, especially as she’s almost 30 and hasn’t been married. She constantly tries fixing her daughter up and seems overly concerned with the topic, almost to the point of obsession. When Pallavi meets a handsome boy named Sandeep (Omar Maskati ) you’d think her mother would be thrilled, but quite the opposite. She becomes even more concerned, convinced that Sandeep is the reincarnation of the man who attempted to murder her 30 years prior, and who cursed her with the evil eye while she was pregnant.

Evil Eye was originally written by Madhuri Shekar as an audio play that debuted on Audible, where it was on the Best-Seller list. She also wrote the screenplay for the film, which was directed by Elan and Rajeev Dassani, twin brothers who were born right here in Nashville, TN. The story is as much a drama as a horror story, albeit one with supernatural overtones. Both Shekar and the Dassani brothers are of Indian descent, which shows through in the film. It feels authentic to the culture, even to a Westerner like me with little familiarity to it. It was interesting and engaging, even if the ending is a little heavy-handed with social messaging – although to be fair that is probably exactly what many viewers will like best about it. 

Sarita Choudhury was especially good as the matriarch of the family. I looked her up on IMDB and the only film I think I’ve previously seen her in is Lady in the Water, which I really don’t remember that well. I hope to see her in more movies though, she was great, as were all of the cast. Produced by Amazon Studios in conjunction with Blumhouse Productions. Available on Amazon starting October 13, 2020.