Attempt to scare. Review on Bhoot

Well Done Ramu! Ramgopal Verma’s attempt to scare people (Bhoot) deserves applause for sure, considering the current state of hindi cinema and the pathetic history bollywood has with scary movies.

I don’t want to dwell on story much. The story is nothing great but it doesn’t matter much in this genre. Vishal (Ajay Devgan) and his wife Swati (Urmila Matondkar) hire a flat. And there are more occupants (two ghosts forms) waiting for them. Urmila starts catching glimpses of these ghosts. And eventually one of the ghost (Manjit) takes total control of her to seek her revenge.

First let me tell you the things I like about this movie. My picks…

1.Unfinished look of the sets… Parking space, building staircases… This adds to the ‘touch of unknown’ this building has. (The entire movie happens in the single apartment).Mumbai rain and dull colors add to the atmosphere.

2.Brilliant use of ‘surrogate’ scary objects. (A doll, A mirror)

3.Avoiding temptation of including shower scenes, lovemaking (there is one), prolonged explanations about paranormal theories and unnecessary special effects (In fact there are no special effects or special make-ups).

4.Use of local train, mechanical equipments, grinding sounds to create unusual sound patterns. Ringing of doorbell deserves a special mention.

5.Characters that create ambience that is ordinary -but with weird tinge. Rekha’s (Ajay seeks help of this lady to extricate Urmila) family (lumbering old man), Housemaid (Seema Biswas) (Shy. Shows passive interest in Urmila-Ajays private life), Owner of the flat (has habit of playing with his cigarette lighter),watchman..

1. And perfect fit performances by all.

This film camera work is typical Ramu style. Sound - work is effective.

The pace of the film is maintained for most of the times. The sequences like -Ajay hallucinates urmila stabbing him, urmila kidding with mirror reflection, Nana Patekar (Policeman) enquiring for watchman’s murder…are very well crafted. The beach sequence is simply superb. (You have to see the film to know what I’m saying)

And I find some of the areas where this film could have been more effective.

1.Sometimes ‘camerawork’ is too much. Some Camera angle are unnecessary twisted to contain ‘the doll’/’the mirror’ in the camera frame. The ghost of Manjit’s son smiling at camera is something unexplainable and evokes laughter.

2.Light patterns, little bit play of Shadows could have added to the effectiveness of fear sequences.

3.The dialogue intensive sequences are sometimes patchy and incoherent. It should have been handled in better fashion. This fact is masked by brilliant performances.

But Above these little things, movie succeeds in achieving its goal. And this attempt to scare really creates some terrific moments.

I recommend this movie simply because it’s a well made film.