Producer: Surendra Sharma, Amita Bishnoi, Bhagwanti Gabrani
Director, writer: Vikram Bhatt
Stars: Adah Sharma, Rajneesh Duggal, Anjorie Alagh
Rating: **
Plot: A haunted house with an evil spirit that possesses young Lisa.
Verdict: A ludicrous plot with a diabolical denouement.
Box Office Prospects: Suspect.
Creative Quotient:
Rewind to 1857 when Indian soldiers are revolting against British atrocities and one of them betrays his mates - resultantly they are massacred mercilessly at the hands of the despotic rulers.
The traitor (Indraneel Sengupta) is hurt and hiding in a big countryside haveli and the owner's nubile daughter (Anjori) must detain him for the night till the rescue party arrives. So she seduces him through the night!!!
At day break, her mission is accomplished; the traitor is dully apprehended and hung. Well, such sacrifices have been made for our freedom! That's the core of this ghost story full of evil spirit possession, exorcism by the holy father of a neighbouring church and the Hanuman chalisa chant that will finally vanquish the devil!
So much for the plot of Vikram Bhatt's most ambitious film of his career. From the whizkid who made Ghulam to concocting such gibberish - it's a sad decline.
Technical Expertise:
How the director thought of passing off verdant Yorkshire countryside and the castle as an ancestral haveli in Palanpur is baffling to start with, further to that is the orthodox church with fathers and brothers trying decipher cryptic old insignia from ancient scrolls and then there is a cowering servant of the haveli who seems to know all about the evil goings-on but is forced to remain silent. Dheeraj Rattan's screenplay is ludicrous most times - oscillating between Hindu and Christian orthodoxy.
Debutant Adah Sharma fits the part and acts well too but Rajneesh Duggal ends up striking rigid poses all along. He refuses to emote throughout!
But the film redeems itself totally in the technical department. Pravin Bhatt's cinematography shrouds the narrative in mystery, he creates magical visuals outdoors as well as inside the candle-lit villa. Abbas Ali Moghul's thrills are to watch out for, they will scare the daylights out of you. Adah climbs columns, leaps off walls and flies in the air with such an alarming grotesqueness - sure to send a shiver down the spine. The special effects are spectacular.
But where was the need for Rakhi Sawant's boringly raunchy item song, it didn't serve any purpose in the film. So if you lust after a night full of repulsive scares, here's the ticket!
Rating: Of the two stars, one goes to the technical crew on the film and one to pretty Adah's ugly yet endearing debut.