Cast: Gurmeet Choudhary, Sapna Pubbi, Ali Fazal Director: Karan Darra
Rating: 3*/*****
Certainly every human surviving under this sky is a free soul, who is
blessed with a right to do whatever his or her heart says. But this boon
of almighty and even many of the states doesn't entitle anyone to
inflict a torture on the other human. But I guess certain homo sapiens
are immune to all such pro-social logic and always love to defy all such
norms, in order to satiate their sadistic desires. And most unfortunate
part pertaining to this axiom is that some of our Bollywoders love to
adhere to this practice and inflict these ghastly acts on their fellow
human.
Though the aforementioned avowal may look too plebeian and disturbing to
many, but factually this is not something more tormenting than the
latest cine creation of Vikram Bhatt i.e. "Khamoshiyan". Probably by now
majority of us have realized that Vikram Bhatt fosters an endless
fascination for horror and erotica, but don't know why despite being a
witness to debacles like "Creature 3D", "Horror Story", the man is
unable to come over his this obsession (read addiction).
May be because of some latent pipe dream pertaining to worst that could
happen. But after seeing this recent creation of Vikram Bhatt don't know
why we are feeling that Vikram needs to visit some secluded manor like
the one which is there in "Khamoshiyan" and need to introspect about his
continuing with his most adored cine genre.
Anyhow rest of the things afterwards, first of all let's apprise you
about the premise of "Khamoshiyan". Primarily "Khamoshiyan" is the story
of a "one novel wonder" kind of fiction writer, Kabir (Ali Fazal) who
is struggling really hard to come up with his next creation because of
bobbery and turmoil prevailing in his personal life.
After having an ephemeral confrontation of a sort with his dilemma,
Kabir decides to give his life a fresh start and opts to settle down for
a while in the lap of seclusion to find his next story.
Soon after leaving behind the pandemonium of his metropolis, Kabir
reaches at a sequestered manor situated in the scenic milieu of Kashmir
where he meets sizzling Meera (Sapna Pubbi) who is also the
owner-cum-manager of a mansion turned guest house. As the premise
strides ahead it apprises viewers about Meera's bedridden husband Jaydev
(Gurmeet Chowdhry).
As the story keeps on rolling, Kabir starts feeling a craving for Meera.
But her strange and suspicious behavior and some of the creepy things
happening in the house start bothering the curiosity of Kabir who
decides to unfurl the mystery of Meera and the eerie house.
So does Kabir succeeds in doing so, and what about Meera's bedridden
husband. To know you have a choice to watch this conceptual creation of
Vikram Bhatt.
Don't know whether it's only my sense-datum or many of you die hard
admirers of Bollywood cine chronicles are also feeling the same. But I
have an esthesis that these days our Bollywooders are going overboard
with their fascination for horror. And worst part is that they are doing
it so halfheartedly, that eventually there cine portrayals are ending
up agonizing those watching them. And alas! Vikram is the man who is
leading this herd of cine tormentor right from the front these days.
Soon after settling down in your seat and watching the initial part of
Khamoshiyan's premise you start realizing that the movie is thoroughly
different from many of its predecessors, who bothered you in the recent
past. And believe me up till some extent it looks to be. As far as basic
story idea lying underneath "Khamoshiyan" is concerned then though
there prevails a mild amount of monotony in the first half, but in spite
of that it keeps your attention devoted to the onscreen proceedings and
somehow manages to make you overlook the minor flaws. In fact it won't
be wrong to say that by the time loo break arrives the curiosity of
viewers reaches till the brim.
But then the disaster happens, where the second half starts compelling
you to reach out to your pocket in search of a pain killer. Unlike the
first half second half turns out to be something so confused and jumbled
that you within no time starts cursing the story writer for making you
feel like a guinea pig captivated in the experiment chamber of a
merciless experimenter.
Be it the engrossing potency of the content or the logical validity
everything pertaining to the second half of "Khamoshiyan" is so sanity
defying that the entire post interval run-time starts looking like a
torturous and endless cine narration, compulsively crafted to make it
reach beyond the 2 hours mark. So generous cipher for Vikram for
unleashing his partially incubated creativity in story department.
As far as screenplay is concerned then it looks thoroughly inspired from
a some Bhatt styled erotica, and the only addition lies in the
depiction of fear factor. Where movie's director Karan Darra tries to
induce some spooky coefficient with the help of some of the conventional
cinematic props as old as the evolution of sea sponge or the jelly
fish. And believe me these "Before Christ era" kind of cine antics of
Karan where he makes books fly and "Aayega Aanewala" song play on an
antique radio seldom succeed in sending across the chill down your
spine. And rather all thises mocking antics look so sub-standard and
outdated that you all of a sudden turn into an admirer of the kind of
horror small screen horror series, Aahat use to offer.
If talk about erotica quotient then even that lacks the aesthetic value.
Songs do nothing much except slowing the pace of the movie, dialogues
are again logic defying and many a times compel you to bang your head on
the wall. Background score of "Khamoshiyan" is no different and looks
strictly OK.
Music of Ankit Tiwari is very much similar to any other Bhatt styled
cine cantata, but lacks that feel which many of those chart topping
aural carols belonging to Bhatt cine enterprises had.
After some of his previous cine stints Ali Fazal has phenomenally
improved himself and unlike his previous cine outing "Bobby Jasoos" up
till some extent manages to prove his abilities this time.
Sapna Pubbi as mysterious and prurient damsel looks impressive but still
needs someone to bring best out of her. Gurmeet in a stipulated screen
appearance is good enough, but just like Sapna needs an adroit potter to
give his potential an impressive shape.
To sum up, although horror erotica is one such muse of our Bollywooders
which often succeeds in alluring the viewers. But on the hind side there
is another maxim which suggests that same fragrance doesn't look
charming every-time. And unfortunately "Khamoshiyan" miserably fails in
emancipating the desired results for the makers.
If we talk about the ability of Vikram Bhatt to deal with this one of
the most sought after genre then we have often seen him enthralling the
masses by his understanding and depiction of horror and eroticism, but
this time he seems to be struggling to weave the magic which he created
with his previous cine enterprises belonging to the ilk.
So after dishing out another partially incubated cine debacle in the
form of "Khamoshiyan" we guess Vikram needs to understand that even
those visiting the cineplexes to watch his movies are human beings, and
inflicting such atrocities upon them in the shape of confused cine
jumbles like Khamoshiyan is no less than an unpardonable sin.
Therefore keeping in view the overall execution of the movie, its
entertaining potency and logical validity (from cinematic perspective) I
am going ahead with generous one and half out of five stars for
"Khamoshiyan" which is even more tormenting than ISIS brutalities.
