‘Game Over’ –a psychological thriller that continues to play in the minds long after curtains fall

By Mythily Ramachandran

‘Game Over’- an out of the box story- directed by Ashwin Saravanan and co-written by Dr. Kaavya Ramkumar has been wonderfully executed and filled with strong performances.

Leading the cast in this Tamil-Telugu home invasion thriller-also dubbed in Hindi- is Bollywood’s Taapsee Pannu. Playing fair with viewers, this psychological drama unfolds smartly its twisty narrative.

Director Ashwin Saravanan who impressed on debut with 'Maya' a horror story

Dr, Kaavya Ramkumar marks her debut as screenwriter with this film

Swapna (Taapsee Pannu) a game designer and a game addict as well is living alone with her maid, Kalama (Vinodini) on the outskirts of the city of Chennai in a bungalow.  She is now going through the ‘anniversary reaction’ of a traumatic past. She is unable to control her body’s reactions to the hangover of the trauma. Fearful of the dark, Swapna is much depressed and even attempts suicide, but survives with fractured legs. 

How will this wheel chair bound young woman survive when her house is broken into one night? 

In the first half, director Saravanan builds the story gradually introducing viewers to Swapna, her addiction to Pac-Man and her present state of mind. 
What happened to her on last New Year’s evening is conveyed through few visuals only. Saravanan does not waste time showing details of the incident but leaves it to viewers to speculate.

Swapna’s relationship with her maid is unique. The relationship between the two women is not of one of maid and mistress but more of two room- mates. Several beautiful moments capture this  bond. Kalama seems to be more a family. She closely keeps an eye not only on Swapna’s food intake and sleep, but on her mood swings too. And, even accompanies Swapna for her sessions with her shrink.  This Man Friday or should I call her Woman Friday-is always there to reassure Swapna that life is better than she believes. It is through her conversations with Swapna we learn about Swapna’s  estranged relationship with her parents.

Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar have sketched the other characters with great care and they are mostly women. Woven into Swapna’s life is a poignant story of a mother (Maala Parvathy) and her dead daughter-a cancer survivor (Sanjana Natarajan) who met her end in the hands of a psycho killer.

Taapsee carries the film on her shoulders. She gets into the head of traumatized victim and portrays her pain and vulnerability with finesse. One scene stayed with me. Swapna is inside a coffee shop and is waiting at her table for her order to be served. She notices two young men at the adjacent table observing her and discussing something. Getting up and glancing at their mobile phone, she realizes that her traumatic past is onscreen. Pannu was brilliant in that scene as Swapna grapples with several emotions at that moment.

Vinodhini matches Pannu at every step. Subtle and effective, she is the maid we wished we had. Maala Parvathy makes tears well up in the scene where as the bereaved mother she recounts her daughter’s tale.

‘Game Over’ wins with its brilliant edge of the seat climax that is packed with agonizing moments. Complementing the narrative is Ron Ethan Yohann’s electronic score-neither loud or jarring; cinematographer A. Vasanth’s camera with its ‘peeping Tom’ visuals draws a queasy feeling in the stomach; art director Shiva’s splendid  designing Swapna’s room, reflects perfectly a game addict’s life. 

The killers are masked. There is no back-story about a misogynist with an unhappy past either. And, there is a thread of positivity that continues to the end.

‘Game Over’ actually continues to play in the minds of the viewer long after curtains fall.