'Evil Eye': Meet Sarita Choudhury, Sunita Mani and rest of the cast of ‘Welcome to Blumhouse’ Indian horror
Amazon Prime Video along with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Television has brought us two remarkable horror films under the banner of ‘Welcome to Blumhouse'. But in the month of spooks, two more features remain. The third film in this anthology series is ‘Evil Eye’, from directors Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani. The film is, among others, executive produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
The psychological horror film centers around diaspora Indians. Pallavi meets a rich, charming and good-looking man called Sandeep. They start dating and soon fall in love. Everything, however, is not as hunky-dory as it seems. Pallavi’s mother Usha is obsessed with astrology and horoscopes, even though her father Krishnan doesn’t.
Soon, Usha begins to dislike Pallavi’s boyfriend because she feels there is something wrong with him. Her father tries to convince her that it is only because of a past traumatic event in Usha’s life that she was behaving erratically. But Usha convinces herself that her daughter has been cursed.
The film, even though it seemingly plays into some Indian stereotypes about black magic, does have an interesting premise. And as a thriller, it certainly looks promising. So, let’s look at the star cast:
Sarita Choudhury as Usha
The 54-year-old British actor is best known for her role in the Mira Nair film ‘Mississippi Masala’. Her other notable roles include films like ‘A Perfect Murder’, ‘3 AM’, ‘Gloria’, ‘Just a Kiss’, ‘She Hate Me’, ‘Lady in the Water’, ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2’, and ‘A Hologram for the King’. On television, her notable roles include shows like ‘Homeland’, ‘Little Fires Everywhere’, ‘Jessica Jones’, ‘The Path’, ‘Blindspot’, ‘Kings’, and more. Choudhury was born in London, England, and is of half Indian Bengali and half British English descent.
Sunita Mani as Pallavi
The 34-year-old American actor, dancer and comedian is best known for her roles as Trenton in ‘Mr Robot’ and Arthie Premkumar in the Netflix comedy series ‘GLOW’. While getting her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Mani began stand-up comedy. After her graduation, she joined the Upright Citizens Brigade and received training in improvisational comedy for three years.
On television, she has also made appearances on shows like ‘The Good Place’ and ‘Broad City’. Her film career includes titles like ‘Wine Country’, ‘Little Sister’, ‘Don't Think Twice’, ‘Save Yourselves!’ and more.
Bernard White as Krishnan
The 61-year-old Sri Lankan–American actor, screenwriter and film director is perhaps best known for his role as Denpok in ‘Silicon Valley’ or as Rama Chandra in ‘The Matrix’ trilogy or as Scott Parera in 'Kidding'. He’s appeared in a number of films and television shows. His notable film roles include ‘Raising Helen’, ‘Sueño’, ‘The Scorpion King’, ‘Pay It Forward’, ‘City of Angels’, ‘Strange Days’, ‘Killing Obsession’, ‘Pain Within’, ‘The World Unseen’, and more.
On television, he’s appeared in ‘24’, ‘The West Wing’, ‘JAG’, ‘Alias’, ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’, ‘CSI: Miami’, ‘ER’, and more. Born in Sri Lanka, White was raised in Detroit and graduated with a B.A. in Theatre from Michigan State.
Omar Maskati as Sandeep
The American actor is perhaps best known for his limited role as Jimmy McGill’s assistant in ‘Better Call Saul’. Hailing from Edison, New Jersey, Maskati graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an engineering degree. He got his professional start Off-Broadway in the Pulitzer-prize winning play, ‘Disgraced’. His other notable roles include ‘Unbelievable’, ‘Quantico’, ‘Time After Time’, ‘Tyrant’, ‘Broad City’ and more.
The film also stars Anjali Bhimani, Lena Clark, Asad Durrani, Kim Patel, Kamran Shaikh, Ash Thapliyal, and Rachel Cora Wood among others. 'Evil Eye' will premiere on October 13, on Amazon Prime Video.