Ragini MMS (2011)

Out to relax and have fun at a farmhouse, a couple experience horror at the hands of an unknown entity.

Director:

Pawan Kripalani (as Pavan Kirpalani)

Writers:

Vaspar Dandiwala (story), Pawan Kripalani (story)

Stars:

Kainaz Motivala, Rajkummar Rao, Rajat Kaul

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kainaz Motivala	...	Ragini
Rajkummar Rao	...	Uday (as Raj Kumar)
Rajat Kaul	...	Vishal (as Rajat)
Janice	...	Pia
Shernaza	...	Neha
Mangala Ahire	...	Witch
Vinod Rawat	...	Jigar
Harshraj Shroff	...	Friend 1 (as Harsh)
Christy Philips	...	Friend 2 (as Christy)
M. Ravichandran Thevar	...	Friend 3 (as Ravi)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
S. Ramachandran	...	Doctor

Storyline

Ragini MMS is a sensuous paranormal film, shot as if in real time! The quintessential couple, Ragini and Uday, set out to have a dirty weekend at a friend's farmhouse on the outskirts of Mumbai. The weekend getaway quickly changes gears as they find themselves in a house that has been rigged with cameras in Bigg Boss style. The cameras that were meant to capture love-making are witness to something that is beyond the realm of human understanding...something metaphysical.... Within the confines of this house, Ragini and Uday are now at the mercy of an unexplainable paranormal force. With sundown approaching, what will the new entrants of the house do? Positively, among the most keenly awaited films of the season, Ragini MMS, a hybrid of fact and fiction, is thrilling voyeurism from the producers of Love Sex Aur Dhokha. The scariest date movie, buffering in Theatres on Friday the 13th May!

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Plot Keywords:

camera | voyeurism | ghost | supernatural | long take | 

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Taglines:

They don't know it yet. It's a THREESOME

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Marathi English

Release Date:

13 May 2011 (India)

Also Known As:

Последняя запись

Filming Locations:

Maharashtra, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

ALT Entertainment, Balaji Telefilms, iRock Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie faced a lot of criticism initially. However, it went on to become a smashing hit, with its music being a rage as well.

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Goofs

The position of arm chair outside bedroom changes position before Uday closes bedroom door and after he opens it again.

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Connections

References Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (2010)

User Reviews

RAGINI MMS - Movie Review : Watch the original 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY' instead of this cheap imitation.

As an out of the routine review of this latest inspired project from a reputed production house, I would like to proceed giving you an idea of how RAGINI MMS may have been conceived a few months back.

A Queen producer of the small screen after moving into film production, tastes a marginal success in one of her low budget projects, called LSD – LOVE SEX AUR DHOKHA, majorly shot on hand held camera. Taking an idea from that, she thinks of making another movie on the similar lines to be made in a few months time. Now, while her team is looking out for a plot to be selected, someone informs them about an Instant Hit movie in the West made on a shoe string budget with a horror plot called "PARANAORMAL ACTIVITY". The next day itself everyone watches it, selects it and decides to write a more Indianised Script around the same theme of a haunted house and hidden cameras.

But in a few days time, the team thinks that only horror element, without any other added gimmick as shown in the Original 'PA' may not work in India. So taking a hint from their last successful project LSD, the writers decide on to bring in some Romance, Sex and Vulgarity into it which will make it more sensational and a news-making item at the time of its release. As a result, a MMS scandal scoop is added into the film along with many long smooches and bed-room scenes to bring in more viewers into the theater. Further, as in India it might be tough to terrify the viewers without any visible spirit (like in the original 'PA'), hence a vaguely visible spirit is also added into the movie, who speaks in a strange tone and also kills all the people visiting the haunted house in a bloody Ramsay manner.

After having everything in place, while shooting the pre-climax sequences, both the director and the cinematographer suddenly remember another famous low budget HIT movie of the west called "THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" and get excited. So keeping the same film in mind they shoot the wandering in the woods (bamboo trees kind of forest) sequences in the end with the night vision hand held camera quite similar to as seen in TBWP.

OK, now the film is ready….and we need to promote it heavily. So with a clear marketing vision, a buzz is spread that the film is based on a real life incident faced by a girl called Ragini on whom the film is actually titled RAGINI MMS. And right before the release of the film, the girl actually comes into the news saying that this is not her story and she is being used by the producers. To make the buzz even more interesting, extremely vulgar posters are designed by the graphic designers to promote it along with the news of the film facing problems with the censors due to its unacceptable concept. And hence a perfect drama is staged to deliberately create another instant money-earner for the famous production house by fooling the audiences.

But unfortunately, this time the whole process goes in vain since the end product turns out to be pretty confused, vulgar, funny and spooky all together taking the viewer no-where in its small yet over lengthy duration of around 100 minutes. The film starts off smartly reminding you of the brilliant LSD and entertains you in its initial 20 minutes mainly because of its realistic abusive one liners. Later on though it manages to shake the viewer occasionally but on the whole, fails to give you a good entertaining time in the theater.

The first time director, Pavan Kirpalani has got the talent but loses the track mainly on his editing table and could have easily made an impact with a heavily edited version of the movie, of around only 80-85 minutes. He copies major things from the English Original, so cannot be credited with anything great. In a songless film, as it should be, the Background music is both designed and used perfectly as required by the theme. But the film mostly relies on its sexual stuff more than the horror one. In the first half it simply looks like a B grade sex movie desperately interested in exploiting the females on the screen. Raj Kumar Yadav of LSD fame, plays an extension of his precious role in LSD and he is even more cunning this time which in fact is impressive. Kainaz Motivala has a soothing presence and acts well.

However, many of the viewers who haven't seen either PARANORMAL ACTIVITY or THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT may like it to some extent. But for me, RAGINI MMS only remains a cheap kind of Indian imitation of the West, so I would rather suggest you to watch it's original if you really want to get spooked.

And here are the two things I learned about Bollywood from RAGINI MMS : 1. Firstly Bollywood can easily copy the concept of a film, but it still finds hard to stick to the concept alone and has to deliberately add SEX into it un-necessarily.

2. Secondly Bollywood still is not comfortable with a film having a duration of less than or around 90 minutes. So with its heavy obsession with the length of the movie, the writers and the directors are forced to add extra sequences into their project to make it around 2 hours.

And in both cases the victim remains the Project as well as its viewers.