There was a time,around eight or so years back, when I used
to go and watch all the Hindi movies in the theater. Then, I discovered English
and other foreign cinema. Life has never been the same. For me, the rise of
assholes like SRK has coincided with the worst period in Hindi film industry. The
movies became cliched, the story line repetitive, the scriptwriter a beggar and
the audience fools.
During the past few years, there has been a slew of different films which have some what restored my confidence in the so called
Bollywood. One of the person who was once at the forefront of this change was
Vishal Bhardwaj. However, his previous two directorial ventures, 7 Khoon Maaf
and Matru… have sucked ass. But he has always been a smart writer. Hence, I
approached this movie with a sense of thrill as I wanted to see how would the
creator of the excellent Makdi(Vagina laced Spider) approach a hackneyed
subject like haunted apartment and witchcraft. However my good mood was also colored
with a dark foreboding due to the generally negative reviews this had garnered
at the time of its theatrical release.
The first half is pretty good. It tells the tale of an illusionist, Bobo the baffler(Hashmi) who hears and sees her long dead sister
and a lizard. His performance during the magic shows begins to slip and without
informing his live in partner, Tamara(Huma Kureshi), he goes and visits his
psychologist. The shrink hypnotizes the serial kisser and takes him back to his
pre lip-lock days. A tale within a tale unfolds wherein we get to find out
about Diana(Konkana Sen Sharma) and Bobo's childhood. Bobo suspects she is a witch who has come
from the nether world. Some good scares ensue. This is easily the best part of
the movie. The narrative seems fresh and keeps the viewer hooked.
It is the second half, with the story again moving to Bobo’s
present, that things really get fucked up royally. Bhardwaj seems to suddenly
run out of ideas and fails to take this to any logical conclusion. The end
seems to be Bhardwaj’s attempt at homage to Rosemary’s Baby but actually made
me want to puke my guts out.
Konkona easily takes the acting honors. She gets the best
lines, full of malicious double entedre, as the titular Daayan. Pawan Malhotra,
as Bobo’s father is excellent in a small role. Hashmi has been consistently
reliable over the previous years and here also he doesn’t disappoint. Kalki is
wasted. Huma Quereshi gets a limited scope to showcase her acting prowess but
looks gorgeous and acts well.
The lyrics of Yaaram by Gulzar is drool worthy. I really
loved the scene during the song when Hashmi reads Gulzar’s book and sings from
it.
Kannan Iyer’s direction seems assured in the first half, like
the script. It goes off track after intermission and crash lands with the
horrendous denouement.
This is one of those movies which I wanted to like very much.
However, the climax(of the movie) is like a kick in the balls. It stinks to
high heaven. Avoid this if you don’t want to burden your heart and soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment