| Be ready for the goose bumps. Vikram Bhatt’s latest offering Shaapit does have a few moments to scare you. As long as you savour the spine-chilling visuals and don’t look out for a story, you’d enjoy the spooky ride.
After 1920, Vikram directs a set of newcomers again for ‘Shaapit’. As a successful director of two horror films, Bhatt again plays safe with the basic theme of the film. To strike fear into audiences, a buri atma is back and a three-hundred-year-old curse runs through a family, resulting in the killing of girls who are about to get married.
The heroine of the film Kaya ( Shweta Agarwal) is cursed not to get married ever. So what will her lover Aman (Aditya Narayan) do? He doesn’t want to lose her at any cost. Obviously in order to stay together they have to get married (it’s Indian society), but Kaya is unmarriageable. Now, as an exemplary Bollywood hero, he will fight fear for love. Thus the director establishes the main theme of the movie: ‘A Tale of Love and Fear’.
Aman starts his journey to dark spaces and haunted spheres. First, he meets Pashupathi ( Rahul Dev) who is a man with an esoteric knowledge of spirits, old and new. He finds out the reason behind the curse. Turns out that a menacing spirit is controlling the curse, making it manifest every time. Now, the logic is simple - the spirit has to go to its own world so that Kaya can get married to Aman. Further, you better watch it for yourself. I won’t reveal the yikes! moments.
What is worth mentioning is Vikram’s direction. He has definitely grown since ‘1920’. Though he has a knack for showing the same gloomy, foggy forest woods in the night, like the way you saw in Raaz, the trick does play upon a viewer’s fear factor. Moreover, when the movie travels back in time not just the mystery behind the curse is unraveled, but the layers of the plot are peeled off to an interesting effect.
Coming to performances, Aditya performs his act quite well and Shweta is another pretty face with acting capabilities; given a scope she could have done better. Rahul Dev is just perfect; a look at his chiseled face is enough to build tension and fear.
Due to lack of enough publicity, the songs took a bit longer to find a place in the list of chartbusters. ‘Kabhi Na Kabhi’ and ‘Chaahata Hai Dil Tumko’ are melodious, hummable tunes.
Go for ‘Shaapit’ if only you’re in the mood for a few spooky thrills. Though not a spookfest, the movie does entertain you. At least it’s not like the other horror films that have come recently from Bollywood.
Rating - 2.5 / 5 | |
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