Game Over (2019 film)

Game Over is a 2019 Indian psychological thriller film directed by Ashwin Saravanan. Produced by YNOT Studios and Reliance Entertainment, the film stars Taapsee Pannu as a woman with PTSD who is defending her home from mysterious intruders.[1][2][3] The film was shot simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu. The film was also dubbed in Hindi and was presented by Anurag Kashyap. The dialogues were written by Ashwin Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar in Tamil and Venkat Kacharla in Telugu. The music is composed by Ron Ethan Yohann.

Game Over
Theatrical release poster in Tamil
Directed by	Ashwin Saravanan
Produced by	S. Sashikanth Chakravarthy Ramachandra
Written by	Ashwin Saravanan Kaavya Ramkumar (Tamil dialogues) Venkat Kacharla (Telugu dialogues)
Story by	Ashwin Saravanan Kaavya Ramkumar
Starring	Taapsee Pannu Vinodhini Vaidyanathan Anish Kuruvilla Sanchana Natarajan Ramya Subramanian Parvathi T.
Music by	Ron Ethan Yohann
Cinematography	A. Vasanth
Edited by	Richard Kevin
Production company	YNOT Studios Reliance Entertainment
Distributed by	YNOTX AP International
Release date	14 June 2019 (2019-06-14)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil Telugu
Budget	₹5 crore
Box office	est. ₹15.91crore

Principal photography commenced on 10 October 2018.[4] The film was released on 14 June 2019, and received generally positive reviews from critics, garnering praise for Taapsee's performance and Ashwin's direction.

Synopsis

Game Over starts with a stranger(whose face is not revealed) stalking a girl with cancer from outside her house and later at midnight killing her by wrapping her head in plastic and tying her hands behind her. After that he takes her to an abandoned field where he beheads her and sets her body on fire. Later, the film focuses on Swapna (Taapsee Pannu) who is a single young woman and also a talented game designer. She has a fear of the dark, and also suffers from post-traumatic stress more so known as 'anniversary reaction', a condition, which triggers unsettling feelings around the anniversary of a traumatic event. For Swapna, it is the horrific memory of her rape that took place on a New Year's Eve. Because of this, she leads a secluded life with Kalamma (Vinodhini Vaidyanathan), a housemaid who stays with her. Her only solace is her love for gaming. Swapna's life changes upside down the moment she faces trouble with the year old tattoo on her hand. She finds that her tattoo has a stranger girl's ash mixed in the ink. She begins to have some bizarre dreams and finds that the girl Amutha (Sanchana Natarajan), a cancer survivor, was an unfortunate victim of a serial killer. Swapna soon finds herself the target of the same serial killer, and it is like a video game she enjoys playing. She is supernaturally and psychologically given three lives / chances to fight, but her weak mental and physical state get in her way the first two times, allowing her killer(s) to win the supposed game like scenario. She manages to make an elaborate plan the final time and defeats her killers and survives the terrible ordeal and emerges a winner in the bizarre and twisted real life game.

Cast

• Taapsee Pannu as Swapna
• Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Kalamma
• Anish Kuruvilla as Psychiatrist
• Sanchana Natarajan as Amutha (Amritha in Telugu)
• Ramya Subramanian as Varsha
• Parvathi T. as Dr. Reena, Amutha's mother (Amritha's mother in Telugu)
• David Solomon Raja as Inspector
• Indrajith as Constable
• Subramanian as Anwar, watchman
• Krishna Raj as Man in Coffee Shop
• Soori as Skin Clinic Doctor
• Capt KRC Pratap as a masked man
• Vignesh Shanmugham as a masked man
• Joshua Miller as a masked man

Production

The film marks the return of actress Taapsee to Kollywood after a hiatus of four years.[5] The first look poster of the film was unveiled on 10 October 2018, which displayed Taapsee sitting in a wheelchair with legs in plaster casts.[6][7] The shooting of the film commenced on the very next day on 11 October 2018. Pannu went under intense training playing a person who uses a wheelchair.[2] The shooting of the film was wrapped up on 14 December 2018.[8]

Soundtrack

Game Over
Soundtrack album by Ron Ethan Yohann
Released	24 August 2019
Recorded	2018-2019
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	1:07:26
Label	YNOT Music Divo
Producer	Ron Ethan Yohann
Ron Ethan Yohann chronology
Naragasooran (2019) Game Over (2019) Madhanam (2019)

The official film score is composed by Ron Ethan Yohann who had worked with Ashwin Saravanan in Maya and Iravaakaalam. The music rights were secured by the production company's subsidiary music label YNOT Music, with Divo as their digital partner. The official soundtrack album was released by Santhosh Narayanan on 24 August 2019. The album features 28 songs which lasts for 67 minutes.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Game Over- Main Titles"	2:41
2.	"One Fine Morning"	2:05
3.	"Pac Man"	1:11
4.	"Panic Attack"	2:07
5.	"VR"	3:06
6.	"Anniversary Reaction"	2:32
7.	"The Dream"	2:45
8.	"Immortal Inks"	1:20
9.	"The Scar"	4:01
10.	"The Tattoo"	1:01
11.	"Shame"	4:40
12.	"The Fall"	0:53
13.	"Recuperation"	1:58
14.	"Mother"	1:17
15.	"Amudha"	5:53
16.	"Hope"	1:47
17.	"Intruder Alert"	0:44
18.	"The Swing"	4:06
19.	"The Masked Man"	2:24
20.	"Deja Vu"	1:49
21.	"Help"	2:10
22.	"Rescue"	1:22
23.	"The Reveal"	1:53
24.	"Game On"	3:30
25.	"Fight Like a Girl"	2:29
26.	"Retaliation"	2:20
27.	"The Last Stand"	0:50
28.	"Happy New Year - End Credits"	4:32
Total length:		1:07:26

Marketing and release

The official teaser was released on 15 May 2019.[9] The trailer of the film was released by Dhanush, Rana Daggubati and Taapsee Pannu in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi on 30 May 2019.[10] The film was released in all three versions on 14 June 2019.[2]

Home media

The Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions of the film became available as VOD on Netflix in late 2019.[11]

Reception

Critical response

As of June 2020, the film holds a 58% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on twelve reviews with an average rating of 6.6/10.[12]

Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in praises Pannu and Vaidyanathan for their 'doughty performance' and opines that the writers have delivered a taut and highly watchable thriller. Summing up she says, "[The film] is a taut thriller about demons within and without".[13] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave three and half stars out of five and feels that the film is an inventive, intelligent and terrifying film that doesn't take the viewer lightly. Praising the performance of Taapsee Pannu and direction of Ashwin Saravanan, Anna says, "Game Over is as crisp and to-the-point as a thriller can get." [14] Priyanka Sinha Jha of News18 rates it with three and half stars out of five, stating the film with its paranormal-meets-noir is a good example where Indian concepts are combined with western. She concludes, that the Hindi version of the film is worth a watch for entertainment and its new-age cinematic virtues.[15] Writing for NDTV Saibal Chatterjee terming screenplay "smart and minimalist", praises the director for his deft handling of the execution and Pannu for her characterisation of the role. He concludes the review as, "While she [Pannu] may be the primary reason why you must go out and watch this film, it certainly isn't devoid of other intrinsic merits in terms of substance and execution." He rates it with three stars out of five.[16] Raja Sen writing a mixed review for Hindustan Times rated the film with two and half stars out of five and finds, 'Pannu strong in a hysterically distraught role' and Vinodhini Vaidyanathan 'wonderfully warm'. He thinks that the film, inspired from Black Mirror has a solid concept. But, he says, "[it] devolves into a witless muddle in the final act."[17] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "In short, Game Over is a tight genre-hopping thriller that keeps you guessing about the genre it can be slotted into...The small miracle of the film is that it manages to pack all of this—and a lot more—into 100-something minutes".[18]

Negative reviews such as those by Rajeev Masand writing for CNN-News18, praise Pannu for her performance but states that, "barring its leading lady's impressive performance, it's simply hit and miss." He rates the film with two and half stars out of five.[19] Shubhra Gupta writing for The Indian Express gives one and half star out of five and finds "writing flabby" and "key sequences repetitive". She says, "There are a couple of genuinely scary moments, but the rest of it is too stretched: even the 102 minute run time feels too long, with not enough thrills or chills."[20]

Box office

Game Over's worldwide theatrical gross was ₹15.91 crore (US$2.2 million).

Awards and nominations

Date of ceremony	Award	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
11 January 2020	Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards	Best Actress	Taapsee Pannu	Won	[21]
		Best Supporting Actress	Vinodhini Vaidyanathan	Nominated
		Best Story	Ashwin Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Ashwin Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar	Nominated
		Best Art Direction	Sivasankar	Nominated
		Best Editing	Kevin Richard	Won
28 March 2020	Critics Choice Film Awards	Best Film	Kalaipuli S. Thanu	Nominated	[22]
		Best Actress	Taapsee Pannu	Nominated
		Best Writing	Ashwin Saravanan and Kaavya Ramkumar	Nominated

References

1. "Taapsee Pannu to star in Ashwin Saravanan's Game Over". The Indian Express. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
2. "Taapsee Pannu undergoes intense prep for 'Game Over'". Times of India. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
3. Kumar, Pradeep (3 June 2019). "Women in films needn't be damsels in distress, says 'Game Over' writer Kaavya Ramkumar". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
4. October 10, Adithya Narayan On; 2018 (10 October 2018). "First Look Of Taapsee Pannu's 'Game Over' Revealed". Silverscreen.in. Retrieved 2 February 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. "Taapsee's comeback Tamil film titled 'Game Over'". Sify. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
6. "Taapsee Pannu's next Tamil film titled Game Over, first look out. See pic". Hindustan Times. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
7. "Game Over poster: Taapsee Pannu is wheelchair-bound in Ashwin Saravanan's bilingual thriller- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
8. "Taapsee Pannu wraps up shooting for 'Game Over' - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
9. "Game Over | Official Teaser | Taapsee Pannu | Ashwin Saravanan | Y Not Studios | June 14". YouTube. Y Not Studios. 14 May 2019.
10. "'Game Over' Trailer: The Taapsee Pannu starrer horror thriller holds a gripping narrative that will send shivers down the spine - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
11. "Game Over". Netflix. August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
12. "Game Over". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
13. Ramnath, Nandini (15 June 2019). "'Game Over' movie review: A taut thriller about demons within and without". Scroll.in. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
14. M. M. Vetticad, Anna (14 June 2019). "Game Over movie review: Taapsee Pannu hits the ball out of the park through a terrifying thriller". Firstpost. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
15. Sinha Jha, Priyanka (14 June 2019). "Game Over Movie Review: Taapsee Pannu and Fantastic Storytelling Techniques Keep You Hooked". News18. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
16. Chatterjee, Saibal. "Game Over Movie Review: Taapsee Pannu Is The Primary Reason To Watch This Fast-Paced Thriller". NDTV. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
17. Sen, Raja. "Game Over movie review: Taapsee Pannu tries her best in this slasher film with three climaxes". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
18. "Game Over Movie Review: The Enjoyable, Fabulously Twisty 'Game Over', Starring Taapsee Pannu, Is A Bona Fide Original". Film Companion South.
19. Masand, Rajeev (15 June 2019). "Game Over Movie Review: Barring Taapsee's Impressive Performance, It's Simply Hit and Miss". News18. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
20. Gupta, Shubhra. "Game Over review: A patchy affair". The Indian Express. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
21. "Vikatan Awards 2019: Taapsee Pannu wins 'Best Actor' for Game Over, shares surreal moment with Dhanush and Vetrimaaran". The Statesman. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
22. "Critics' Choice Film Awards 2020: Complete nominations list". 11 March 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.

External links

• Game Over on IMDb
• Game Over at Bollywood Hungama