Sivalinga is Tamil action horror comedy film directed by P. Vasu, starring Raghava Lawrence and Ritika Singh in the leading roles. A remake of Vasu's earlier 2016 Kannada film of the same name, the project began production in July 2016.[1][2] The climax revelation scene was reported to have similarities with director's own 1999 movie Malabar Police. [3]

Shivalinga (Lawrence Raghava) is a CBCID officer whose job he keeps it as a secret from the entire world, except from the funny and doting mom (Kovai Sarala's job is here done by Urvashi). Known to crack mysteries with his brain and guts, Shivalinga is one of the most masculine intelligent officers in the Department.

He is married off by the mom to the beautiful Sathya (Ritika Singh of 'Guru' fame), both of whom move to a new place because the husband is assigned the task of cracking the murder mystery of Raheem (Shakti), one Sangeetha's lover.  

Shivalinga is too scared of horror flicks, much less ghosts, but he hides the fear when the new building the couple are staying in is in the neighbourhood of a large graveyard. Right from the start, the wife starts hearing weird sounds and behaves like a possessed creature, giving shivers to the hubby.  

It's Raheem's spirit which is after her. What does the spirit expect from Shivalinga and his wife? Why is Raheem after this couple? Will Shivalinga be able to race against time and crack the case to the spirit's satisfaction? That's the crux of the story. 

The combination of P Vasu and Lawrence ensures that there is a healthy hangover of 'Chandramukhi' and 'Kanchana'. If the investigator's discussions with an occult practitioner (played by Pradeep Rawat as a Muslim fakir) reminds one of the element of Rajinikanth's discussions with the 'mantrikudu', the mother-son comedy follows the template seen in 'Kanchana'.  

The drama doesn't lose intensity even though Urvashi (as a proud host of food shows on TV) and Vadivelu (as a servant) regularly offer doses of comedy. Since the murdered subject is a Muslim, the director uses the element to create a sub-text of Islamic culture quite well. Ritika Singh's weird behaviour (read her liking for colour green, the colour of Muslims), etc is narrated well.

The bond between the husband and his wife comes with emotions. It comes to the fore more in the climax. The flashback is narrated in installments and not at once.  And this is done well.

After a point, you realize that the story line is weak. As a result, the kind of interest that the first half holds doesn't sustain later. Unlike in 'Kanchana', which sticks to the transgender character's world till the end, this film drifts away after introducing the element of love affair between a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl.

While the investigation process as a whole is just OK, it's ridiculous that the hero didn't even probe into CCTV footage for so many days to get the first clues! The songs are loud and the BGM more loud! Clearly, SS Thaman was asked to get it attuned to the tastes of B, C centre Tamil audiences.  

The CG works may get mixed response from the audience. Sarvesh Murari's cinematography is good.  

Performance Score

Lawrence is convincing in the role of a smart investigator and troubled husband. Although he imitates Rajinikanth here and there and even pays him tribute for no relevant reason (there is a song featuring a huge billboard of the Superstar immediately after a scene where Lawrence clamps down on black money hoarders as if Rajini has got anything to do with fighting black money in real life).  His comic timing is missing in this film, though. But his dances are, needless to say, wow.

Ritika Singh pulls off the horror scenes with confidence. However, heroine imitating masculine body language while she is possessed has become quite routine. Shakti, Urvashi, Vadivelu and others do a fine job. 

Final Verdict

'Shivalinga' is a formulaic horror-crime thriller. An engaging first half, a decent climax, mild comedy, intense performances and an undercurrent of 'Chandramukhi' and 'Kanchana' marriage make it a watchable fare. On the flip side, the story line is weak and some liberties are taken in showing the progress of murder investigation.

We get to see a horror comedy film every month one after another because that is the trend. Though in most cases, we are not offered anything fresh from the earlier films, we still watch them if they are entertaining. This week too, we have a horror comedy flick but this time from the experienced trendsetters of the genre in Tamil cinema.

If not for P Vasu's Chandramukhi and Raghava Lawrence's Muni, Kanchana series, this genre wouldn't have been the much celebrated one in the last 3 years. Now 2 masters of horror comedy genre have come together for Sivalinga and let's see how this combination has churned out.

Let's start with the positives. A script that holds the suspense element till the end is what majorly makes you watch the film. Secondly, comedian Vadivelu who after a long time gets a role that gives him enough scope to strike. Though it's no way close to his best, Vadivelu does give us some moments to laugh. Raghava Lawrence's role is adequate to show both his mass screen presence as well as his comedy sense.

The story takes its own time to take off. The first half moves at slow pace amidst few fun scenes. The second half is more engaging and intense as that is where the story actually unfolds though.

We get some functional acting from Ritika Singh for the aggressive character she gets to play but her romance portions could have been enacted better. Few might feel, her expressions look like as if she is trying to imitate Jyothika's role in Chandramukhi. Sivalinga would be Sakthi Vasudevan's good role after Ninaithale Inikkum and he has done full justice to it.

SS Thaman's music works well especially the BGM. The song placement, however, looks weak. Even CG works that were used occasionally could have been done better, but the one in the climax fight was exciting visually.

Sivalinga is more of a mass commercial film than a horror comedy. P Vasu has played it to the gallery and the film might find its share of audiences who do not mind watching a loud action investigative horror thriller.

Raheem (Shakthi Vasudevan) and his well-trained pigeon Saara are alone in a coach aboard a train when a blind man enters and reached to an open door. Raheem saves the man, but the man, a killer, who in turn throws Raheem off the moving train to his death. Raheem's death is ruled a suicide, but Raheem's fiancee Sangeetha (Saara Deva) knows that Raheem had no reason to kill himself. The same night, Raheem appears in Sangeetha's dream and says that he was murdered. The following day, Raheem's case is forwarded to the CID at Sangeetha's request.

Sivalingeshwaran aka Sivalingesh (Raghava Lawrence) is a strict CID officer who is married to a thrill-seeker named Sathya (Ritika Singh). The two in a house live near a cemetery. Shiva is assigned Raheem's case and begins the investigation. The same night, Satya sees a ghost of child, and Sathya is frightened by this. Shiva, however, cannot see that ghost and thinks that Satya is imagining it. The following day, Shiva visits Raheem's home to investigate Raheem's relationship with his father and with Sangeetha. Shiva suspects Sangeetha's father Krishnamoorthy (Radha Ravi) is responsible for Raheem's death as he disapproved Raheem- Sangeetha's love.

Satya's behavior becomes erratic. She drives around the city while wearing a black dress, she's redecorated the house with green curtains and lights, and she has cooked Biriyani, even though she has never made the dish before. Later a house servant Pattukunjam (Vadivelu) and a few other maids tell Shiva about Satya's strange behavior. Shiva meets his friend Ashok, who is a psychiatrist. He advises Shiva to observe her behavior secretly. That night, Shiva returns home early. He hears a man's voice and smells a cigar burning. He heads to Satya's room and is shocked to discover that Raheem's soul has possessed Satya's body. Raheem warns Shiva, that he must solve Raheem's murder.

Shiva accesses the security footage at the railway station and discovers that the person act as blind man is the killer. Shiva tracks down the killer and chases him, finally cornering him on a train coach with no passengers. Satya, who is still possessed by Raheem, enters and demands to know why the man killed him. The man tries to escape by jumping out of the moving train, but falls to his death. Shiva takes Satya to Darga, where they meet and informs Satya's mother Sarala (Bhanupriya) only. Baba (Pradeep Rawat) helps them to exorcise Raheem' soul out but temporary. He tells Shiva that solving Raheem case is the only solution for saving Satya. Shiva starts the investigation piece by piece, and Raheem's pigeon Sara helps Shiva by giving clues. Shiva interrogates Satya at the CID Conference Hall regarding Raheem. Satya reveals that the deceased person (Raheem) gets her iPad,which was robbed by a pickpocketer and returns it back. Satya gets a snap of Raheem for the sake of friendship. Satya's friend was felt jealous, while getting a snap of Raheem {This guy was loving Satya and Satya denied his love}. With a wrath of ruining Satya's life, the guy had made a call to Satya's residential landline. It was Satya's father Viswanathan (Jayaprakash), who was spying on Satya's activities, lifted the call and heard the entire conversation, which made him wrath to harm the innocent Raheem. Then after unveiling the truth, the ghost of Raheem possess Satya and threatens everyone present in the hall. Satya's father begs for forgiveness as he intended to harm Raheem but not to kill him. Then, it is revealed that a pigeon race organiser (Zakir Hussain) hired the assassin (who acted as blind man) to kill Raheem as Raheem and Saara are the continuous champions of the pigeon race which drives the organiser in jealousy. Sivalinga begs to leave Satya's body and allows him to possess Sivalinga in order to provide justice to Raheem, the possessed Sivalinga kills the pigeon race organiser. In the end credits, Sivalinga and a pregnant Satya get reunited.

Production[edit]

Following the success of P. Vasu's Kannada horror film, Shivalinga (2016), the filmmaker chose to remake the project in Tamil. Vasu initially tried to market the project as Chandramukhi 2, as a spiritual sequel to Chandramukhi (2005), and approached Rajinikanth to portray the lead role.^[4] However, the actor did not accept to work on the project, while reports suggested that Vasu may approach Ajith Kumar for the film.^[5] In March 2016, Raghava Lawrence accepted to work on the film, while Vadivelu was also signed on to appear in a role thereafter. After negotiations with Anushka Shetty and Hansika Motwani, Vasu chose to sign on Ritika Singh for the female lead role. Vasu's son, Shakthi, was also added to the cast to reprise the role he had portrayed in the original version. Shakthi revealed that his character would have more prominence in the Tamil version, in comparison with the Kannada version.^[6]