India, Feb. 8 -- T his fantasy film was released with the clear intention of building a franchise. Scripts for all five chapters were completed before the first went into production. Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra (2025) is rooted in the present: a lone young woman, renting a flat in Bengaluru, finds herself the potential object of violence. But that's where the familiarity ends. Drawing on Kerala's ancient myths and folklore, the film now creates a superhero, Chandra (played by a striking Kalyani Priyadarshan; below), who doesn't flinch when faced with the darkest sides of her city, because she doesn't need to. She turns out to be a centuries-old yakshi (or protective force) who has always responded with righteous savagery when faced with a thre...