Blue Light) is a 2023 Indian Malayalam language horror thriller film[a] directed and co-produced by Aashiq Abu under his banner OPM Cinemas.
The film is based on Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's renowned short story of the same name and is also a reboot of the 1964 blockbuster, Bhargavi Nilayam.
[1] The film starts with an unknown person entering an abandoned mansion at midnight and being scared away by a ghostly figure in the dark.
She had committed suicide due to love failure by jumping into a well and people believed that the ghost of Bhargavi still lived there, which is why everybody was scared of going near the mansion.
The next morning, everybody is surprised to see the writer alive as they had thought that the ghost had killed him the previous night.
Later, as the writer sits down to write the story, he hears noises coming from a storeroom in the other side of the house.
He also finds a strand of curly hair wrapped in a piece of newspaper which says something about a dead body being found on a train and a love letter to Bhargavi written by Nanukuttan.
She decides to approach Sasi Kumar, a singer who is also her neighbour to play the sitar for her programme in the college youth fest.
He doesn't create any trouble as to not raise any suspicion and leaves soon, though he confirms that Bhargavi and Sasi Kumar are in a relationship.
When Narayanan sees Bhargavi, he confronts her about her relationship, to which she replies that she isn't ready to marry anyone except Sasi Kumar.
Neelavelicham is the second remake of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's short story of the same name, following the 1964 adaptation Bhargavi Nilayam.
[7] Director Aashiq said that he had read the original short story in his school library without initially knowing that it was the plot of Bhargavi Nilayam.
[8] The film was announced in January 2021 by director Aashiq Abu on the 113th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter and Malayalam literary writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, along with a poster depicting an ancient Kerala-style home buried in the darkness and gently glowing with moonlight.
[9] Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kunchacko Boban, Rima Kallingal, and Soubin Shahir were initially cast in the project.
The identical poster was released in March 2022, but with a new cast of Tovino Thomas, Kallingal, Mathew, and Chacko.
The makers published a teaser poster featuring Thomas in traditional costume with a white shirt, mundu, and briefcase in his hand, inspecting a dusty room in June 2022, along with the film's December 2022 release date.
[15][2] On 30 July 2022, the second poster of the film, showing Kallingal as Bhargavi in a dance posture with her robe spread like butterfly wings against the backdrop of a serene scenic area, was unveiled.