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Romancham () is a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language horror comedy film written and directed by Jithu Madhavan in his directorial debut. Inspired from real-life experiences of Jithu and his friends during their college days, the film stars an ensemble cast led by Soubin Shahir, Arjun Ashokan, Sajin Gopu, Siju Sunny,Chemban Vinod Jose, Abin Bino, Anantharaman Ajay, and Afsal P. H. Set in a men's hostel in Bangalore, the plot revolves around seven bachelors who try to summon a spirit via Ouija board. The film's soundtrack was composed by Sushin Shyam.
Romancham was released on 3 February 2023. The film was a commercial success and was the fifth highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2023. The film was remade in Hindi as Kapkapiii.
Jibin, Rivin, Niroop, Shijappan, Mukesh, Karikuttan, and Soman are roommates in a rented house. Only Rivin and Karikuttan have full-time jobs and Soman attempts various businesses while the rest are looking for jobs.
One day, while visiting a friend, Jibin sees a group conducting a séance using a Ouija in the hope of finding a ghost they can talk to. Realizing this is something the group can do as a pastime, he uses a carrom board as Ouija Board and gets the group to participate. Rivin, due to his religious beliefs, refuses to be a part of this. As they begin their séance, Jibin realizes nothing is happening, and, to save face, he and Shijappan, start moving the glass to make the rest of them believe that the séance is working. They come up with the name Anamika for the spirit and start asking various questions.
Soon, their séances becomes popular among their friends. On one occasion, a friend asks a question about their pet cat. The glass moves, without any help from Jibin and Shijappan, and has the right answer leaving them dumbfounded. Anamika now starts answering questions correctly including the death of someone. More and more people come to their house to have their questions answered.
Strange and weird incidents start to occur in the house. Rivin is not able to find his way home from work. Eventually the group decide to stop the séances as they feel that they have unleashed something that they can't control.
A friend of Jibin called Sinu comes to live with them temporarily. Sinu starts exhibiting weird behavior like going into a catatonic state and speaking to someone in the middle of the night, eventually frustrating Jibin and Niroop, who decide to send him away. Anamika's spirit now starts wrecking their home and many unnatural incidents start occurring again. Rivin again starts forgetting the way back home, and Karikuttan ends up losing his job at the petrol pump because, absent-mindedly, he ends up filling a customer's petrol tank with diesel. All of them lose their minds and try to leave their home as soon as possible. Jibin, due to his fears, ends up with high fever, which develops into meningitis.
Jibin reveals that the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was the spirit of a woman getting into his bag. Sinu is then shown walking into the hospital with that same bag, and reveals that Anamika's reply that day was 'WE ARE COMING', giving a chance of a sequel.
Gopika I.S. of The Times of India gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote " Romancham is the movie that gives us this wonderful formula. There is no exaggeration, no nonsensical humour, the movie is simply hilarious and interestingly, it's inspired from real life incidents." S. R. Praveen of The Hinduwrote "Along with some top-notch comic performances from the entire cast, everything works like a charm and evokes uproarious laughter in director Jithu Madhavan's debut film." Saikat Chakraborty of The Telegraph wrote,"Debutant director Jithu Madhavan blends situational comedy with eerie overtones, stringing together incidents from his real-life experiences."
Ann Jacob of The Week gave a rating of 4 out of 5 and wrote," Jithu Madhavan, the director-writer of the movie, ensures that the pace of the plot does not lag at any point and has succeeded in leaving the audience wanting for more." Cris of The News Minute gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "With such a package, the horror and the comedy come off really well. But if you are not quite a fan of horror, chances are that you might have trouble with the viewing, despite the comedy accompanying it."
Sajin Shirjith of The New Indian Express gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote " Romancham is at its funniest when it explores the idiosyncrasies of its well-sketched character."
Romancham grossed over 68 crore after 50 days of its theatrical run by collecting 41 crore from Kerala, 4.1 crore from other parts of India and 22.9 crore from overseas market. Romancham grossed 70 crore worldwide to emerge as the fifth highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year.
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