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.
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.