Gr8!. Review on Darna Mana Hai

After I caught the promos of DMH on air I thaught it was just a quickie made after the success of Bhoot! But last night I was thrilled, surprised and awe struck when I watched the film in the thetere. After all creativity still exists and there are some talented writers STILL around. Darna mana hai is a film that does not fit into the Horror genre, its ment to scare you , no doubt about that, but thats not the only thing. Its essentially a thriller with a wierd and spooky concept. The highlight of the film is obviously its story, in fact 6 stories which are beautifully blended together. The stories are all wierd and distinctly different from each other dealing with subjects which are as different as cheese and chalk. There are apples and there are school children, there are no smoking zones and there are STOPS!

THE PLOT...

A group of seven friends ( Sameera Reddy , Gaurav Kapoor etc) are on their way to Goa on a holiday. In the night their car gets a puncture and unfortunately they forget to bring the jack thus leaving the car with a flat and no other option but to stop till another car passes by. They see a dim light near by and go there to find a house in ruins. They decide to spend the night there by telling each others spooky horror stories. As the stories are being told, one by one the friends start disapperaing when they leave the place to get back into the car to get a few odd things like blankets etc...What essentially builds up the plot are the 6 stories that are told to each other.

I wont get into the details of each story but the first one is the Antra Sohil Khan one-A couple on a honeymoon. This is the scariest of the lot and sends a chill down your spine.

The second one is the Saif ali Khan-Bomen Irani tale- NO SMOKING is the warning....my favorite!

APPLES is the third one, where Shilpa shetty is the victim!

The fourth one is the CLASSROOM TALE, not one of my favorite but the actor(dont know his name) has done a brilliant job!

The Nana patekar - Vivek oberoi BAKRA is too good.

The STOP one which has Ishaa and Aftaab is the BEST

(The names are given by me and are not used in the movie).

THE DIRECTION AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES

The director is one hellava genius at telling a story. He has done a marvolous job and made such a drastically different film that nothing at all is predicatble. Though its not very scary, you understand at the end of 2 or so hours that its not actually ment to scare you. The unpredictable climax and the unexpected ending are a big big high!The screen play is slick and tight with no loose ends to bore you and the story or rather the stories move at a very fast pace leaving no time to wander your fickle minds here and there. And thankfully there are no songs which would have been an unnecessary hindrence.

The cinematography is supreb and spooky and the lighting is fantastic. The special effects and sound and the rest are all excellent.

THE PERFORMANCES...

Vivek Oberoi, Antara Mali, Shilpa Shetty , Bomen Irani, Aftaab and Rajpal Yadav are excellent.

Sameera Reddy , Gaurav kapoor , Revthi are good.

The rest of the cast does not get much scope to display their worth , but they all have done a good job!

Go watch it for its uniqueness but dont expect to get too scared coz DARNA MANA HAI and dont smoke and eat apples!

CHEERS!