Bollywood horror films depict less horror and strongly resemble comedy dramas, where one is actually horrified at the maker. Director, Vikram Bhatt’s recent release Haunted, is one such example, which falls within the genre of a horror film, but actually resembles a comedy flick badly scripted and executed.[break]
The biggest put offs are the 3D glasses that you are provided with to watch this “3D film”. The glasses are not needed for the effects portrayed in Haunted.
Director, Vikram Bhatt known for thrillers such as Red: The Dark Side, Jurm, Elaan, Kasoor and Aetbaar, reinvented horror in Bollywood through his blockbuster film, Raaz in 2002.
After the success of Raaz, Bhatt’s two other horror films, 1920 and Shaapit did mediocre business at the box office. His ambitious venture Haunted, however falls flat in the face of horror genre, and is laughable.
The protagonist of the movie, Rehan returns to India from America and buys a mansion that’s almost a century old and is also haunted.
He tries to uncover the story behind the house and the people who originally occupied the mansion. One night he finds a letter by a girl named Meera who once lived there.
She had committed suicide after being raped by the evil spirit of her piano teacher. Every night, the mansion is engulfed by heart wrenching screams coming from within which actually is a battle between the spirit of the girl and the evil spirit of the piano teacher.
Rehan then decides to destroy the piano teacher’s spirit to give freedom to Meera’s anguished soul. The story unfolds further in a quest towards finding ways to destroy the evil spirit.
The plot is a typical stereotype of a horror movie, while the screenplay goes haywire in various directions.
Haunted brings back a few of Bhatt’s obvious horror ornamentations like panoramic panache cinematographed by father Praveen Bhatt and dark alleys following one after another accompanied by sound effects that are too loud.
Post-intermission, the story turns into a fiasco when Rehan decides to embark on a journey to the past, eight decades ago.
The sole purpose of which is to ease and relate to the pain and suffering of the damsel in distress, Meera. What happens next you will just have to wait and watch? .
Fear of the unknown has not been thoroughly dealt with in the movie.The screen tends to fill up with cut off heads, slow motions, stereotype moves, typical sounds and clichéd dialogues.
About the characters, almost all the actor’s look confused on screen rather than identifying with the script. Those that play the spirits resemble cartoon character with stitches and some scars on their faces.
There is no narrative and no screenplay.
Screening at QFX
The writer is Program Officer at Indian Cultural Centre
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