Vishwak Sen directs himself in #Cult, out on 30 October as Telugu cinema’s first slasher

Vishwak Sen steering his own films is nothing new; he did it with Falaknuma Das. With #Cult he goes a step further. The story, the direction and the lead role are all his, and the genre, the slasher, is one no Telugu film has attempted. The film releases on 30 October in several languages.

The trailer of 18 October hid nothing: blood, an axe, dark mansions, dread. The makers call it the first action-horror slasher on the Telugu screen. Ravi Basrur, whose sound defined KGF, gives the trailer its weight. Gayatri Bhardwaj plays the lead opposite Vishwak Sen, with Murali Sharma, Srikanth Iyengar and Tarak Ponnappa in key roles. Sandeep Kakarala and Karate Raju produce under the Tarak Cinemas and Vanmaye Creations banners.

The bet

There is a wager in the date. Venkatesh and Trivikram’s Aadarsha Kutumbam holds the same weekend, a family film on one side and a blood-soaked slasher on the other. Vishwak Sen’s calculation is plain: he has an audience of his own, and it will turn up.

Our view: the slasher is a test for Telugu audiences and a bigger one for Vishwak Sen. Violence alone will not carry a film. If the style in the trailer holds up as a two-hour story, a new door opens for Telugu cinema. If not, it remains a brave experiment. The answer comes on 30 October.