Mala (2026) Review – This Is A Chilling Supernatural Horror

Director: Trishul Thejasvi
Cast: Indigo Sabharwal, Nirvan Patnaik, Gisele George, Nikhil Kamkolkar, Priya Deva, Raw Leiba, Nehru Sabharwal
Running time: 96 mins

Directed by Trishul Thejasvi and produced by the mother-daughter team of Nisha and Indigo Sabharwal (respectively the writer and the star), this is an intriguing horror film that delivers atmosphere and chills, but it flounders a little in its execution. That said, there’s an underlying darkness to it that leaves a significant impact.

The film centres on Reema (Indigo Sabharwal), a young South Asian woman who has inherited a resort on the remote tropical island of Sanskara, following the death of her mother and her aunt. Intending to survey her inheritance, she travels to the island with her three best friends – pleasure-seeker Lola (Gisele George), nerdy Kalyan (Nirvan Patnaik) and sensible Shiv (Nehru Sabharwal) – and meets the resort’s creepy manager Robert (Nikhil Kamkolkar), who tells her the mysterious details of her aunt’s death.

As she digs deeper, Reema discovers that her mother and aunt had been involved with black magic and had incurred an ancient curse that afflicted the entire island. It soon becomes clear that she’s been drawn to the island for a specific purpose, but events take an unexpected turn.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Mala is that it kicks hard against genre cliches and audience expectations. It’s set up to be a fairly standard final girl story, with a deadly supernatural element and relatively disposable supporting characters, but instead it becomes something much darker, delivering genuine chills in the process.

Without giving too much away, the key trick that the film plays is to upend the audience’s sympathies, plunging them into unsettling uncertainty. The result of that is refreshingly original, but it also arguably backfires as a result – at the very least, it won’t work for everyone.

On a similar note, Indigo Sabharwal’s performance is fascinating, because she initially comes across as rather flat and unemotional, but that aspect of her character works perfectly in the latter part of the film, and also explains why her friends don’t immediately notice what’s going on with her.

The main problem with the film is the script, which lacks both focus and clarity and leaves the audience with too many unanswered questions. It’s also full of plot holes, such as the disappearance of a character that is never explained, or two key characters making a frankly baffling decision at a crucial moment.

In fairness, the film does deliver a particularly good shock moment, but there’s no follow-through or explanation, which leaves it looking gratuitous. In addition, there’s a sense of missed opportunity when it comes to the character relationships – romantic connections are hinted at, but not explored, which lessens the emotional connection.

In short, Mala is not without flaws, but it does at least attempt something different to the standard horror template, and its disturbing darkness makes it worth checking out.

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