13B: Fear Has a New Address (2009)

In today's world, the major source of relief, information and entertainment is the TV. So much so, that it has moved up from its modest position of being just another 'household appliance' ... See full summary »

Director:

Vikram K. Kumar

Writers:

Abhinav Kashyap (dialogue), Vikram K. Kumar

Stars:

Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Poonam Dhillon

Cast

Cast overview:
Madhavan	...	Manohar 'Manu' (as R. Madhavan)
Neetu Chandra	...	Priya
Poonam Dhillon	...	Sushma - Manohar's mom
Sachin Khedekar	...	Dr. Shinde
Dhritiman Chatterjee	...	Kamdar (as Dhrithiman Chaterjee)
Deepak Dobriyal	...	Ashok
Murli Sharma	...	Inspector Shiva (as Murali Sharma)
Amar Upadhyaya	...	(as Amar Upadhayay)
Vinay Jain
Suhasini Mulay	...	Sheila's grandma
Meera Vasudevan
Sampath Raj	...	Advocate Ram Charan (as Sampath)
Sanjaih Bokaria	...	R. Manoj (as Sanjaih)

Storyline

In today's world, the major source of relief, information and entertainment is the TV. So much so, that it has moved up from its modest position of being just another 'household appliance' to actually determining the power equation in a family. It is easy to identify the hierarchy in the family depending on who controls the remote control. So what happens when the TV realizes this power and begins to take control? What happens when instead of showing you the facts, the TV, begins to show you what it wants you to see? What happens when Manohar, to his great horror, realizes that this is exactly what is happening with his wonderful family, who has just moved into their sweet new home at 13B.

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Plot Keywords:

television | vengeful ghost | capacitor | supernatural power | violence | 

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Taglines:

Fear has a new address

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site.

Country:

India

Language:

Tamil Hindi

Release Date:

6 March 2009 (India)

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$6,752 (USA) (6 March 2009)

Gross:

$12,235 (USA) (20 March 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reliance Big Pictures, Wide Angle Creations

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The majority of the film takes place inside an apartment. A temporary shooting floor was created from scratch in Egmore, Chennai inside which an elaborate apartment set was erected.

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Goofs

When the Electrician sent by Manohar to drill holes in the Pooja room gets a shock, we can see the electric socket on the wall, but later when Manohar is checking the room the wall is bare. Additionally, when Manohar is hammering the nails the first time and enters the Puja room, there is no electrical socket. So the electrical outlet was stuck to the wall only when the Eletrician comes in.

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Connections

Version of Yaavarum Nalam (2009)

User Reviews

Hello... Boo!

I saw it with minimal expectations and after I saw the film, I googled it thoroughly to make sure that it was not an "unofficial Hollywood remake". And to my surprise, not only is it an original screenplay, they are making a potential big budget Hollwyood movie on this plot.

Madhavan said in his interviews that the film is more in the thriller genre than horror. I would say that it is in the rarely employed "refreshingly original" genre of Bollywood movies.

The background score gels with the pacing of the film, the cinematography is just right for the mood and content, it is definitely very well-written and the director has done a good job of not just thrilling or scaring us but adding human dimensions to his characters so that we care about their outcome in the climax.

And the ensemble cast - Madhavan does a good job of carrying the film on his shoulders as the main protagonist; Poonam Dhillon is a welcome addition to the group of screen moms; Sachin Khedekar, Murali Sharma and Dhritiman Chaterjee are all effective; the 2 standouts for me were Deepak Dobriyal and Neetu Chandra. If she had a yesteryear superstar for a parent, Neetu Chandra would have had a lot of opportunities to display what I believe is tremendous potential. Deepak Dobriyal is one of the most dedicated, passionate and talented actors out there and he shows it in this film. The direction that Bollywood is headed in gives me reason for optimism that they both will be doing a lot of amazing work in the years to come.

So, I hail it as a landmark film and then give it an 8. Why oh why? Well, what's this obsession with stuffing songs when totally unwarranted? Waste of time, effort and money. Take those 15-20 minutes worth of songs out, flesh out some parts of the screenplay better and edit it a little more precisely - you have a landmark film. But nevertheless, an extremely entertaining film.