Lapachhapi
Lapachhapi () is a 2017 Marathi horror film directed by Vishal Furia and produced by Jitendra Patil. Synopsis
The film opens with a heavily pregnant woman running away to escape an unseen force which appears to be chasing her. However, the force soon catches up with her and forces her to stab herself. Introduced to the viewers are a young couple, Tushar (Vikram Gaikwad) and 8-month-pregnant Neha (Pooja Sawant) who undertake a trip to a remote village to escape vengeful debtors. They accommodate themselves in a ramshackle house in the midst of a thick sugarcane field, owned by an aged couple Bhaurao (Anil Gawas) and Tulsabai (Usha Naik). Initially, all appears well in the tranquil village, but soon the dark secrets of the family inhabiting the house begin to surface. Tulsa berates and torments her daughter-in-law Lakshmi, always casting disparaging remarks after her. She tells Neha the story of her younger brother-in-law's wife Kaveri, who murdered her own husband and her brothers-in-law (who are still children) in cold blood. Neha sees visions of the three children and hears the voice of a woman from a tape recorder the children play with. She suspects the woman to be the dead daughter-in-law Kaveri. The visions grow stronger with passing time and in time, reveal the truth to her: Kaveri accidentally stabbed her husband in a scuffle. Tulsabai witnessed the stabbing, and instigated the other villagers to burn her alive. Kaveri's malevolent spirit haunted the house, driving the pregnant women who lived there mad and forcing them to stab themselves. It is revealed that Bhaurao and Tulsa regularly practice female infanticide, and kill the daughter-in-laws who bear female children. The newborn female babies are then drowned by the couple's son Pratap Rao (who masquerades as Tushar), in accordance with a misguided superstition that calls for human sacrifice to ensure a bountiful harvest. Pratap Rao attempts to kill Neha as well, but is lynched by the spirits of the children who appear in a corporeal form. Neha leaves the home in disgust, and sees a vision of the children, who guide her out of the maze-like sugarcane fields, whereupon she leaves the village, never to return again. 