RAAZ
Actors: Bipasha Basu, Dino Moreo,Malini Sharma, Asutosh Rana
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Music: Nadeem Shravan

If you think this film is scary, you haven’t seen my husband’s face when I he sees my Visa bill! His eyes pop out and the screams he emanates are truly horrendous.

There’s nothing this reviewer likes more than a spine chilling horror flick, full of blood gore and other unmentionables. Being a fan of Hindi films, however crappy they turn out to be, the yearning has always been there to watch a decent, hair rising, bone chilling flick. Watched Raaz, realized that I am in for a long wait!

Ridden with the usual Bollywood clichés, unnecessary song and dance routines and over –the-top acting, Raaz disappoints in many ways.

Based loosely on the Hollywood thriller ‘What Lies Beneath’, Raaz is the story of a young attractive (what other kind inhabits Hindi films?) couple returning to Ooty to recapture some old magic to save their floundering union. Once there, the wife starts hearing and seeing apparitions and soon gets possessed by a particularly foul mouthed, vicious spirit. With the help of an occultist/professor( Asutosh Rana), who practices the most unscientific, unconventional methods, she tries to save herself, her husband, their marriage and this film. Did I mention that ghost is curvaceous, bodacious and devilishly( pun intended) sexy?

There are stomach-turning scenes at the end of the film when the Professor occultist gives the young wife a crash course in Bharatiya Nari-dom, which gave me the shivers. Raj Rao’s background score, exciting at first, grates on one’s nerves after a while, Nadeem Shravan please with some good melodies.

Vikram Bhatt’s direction is mediocre, Pravin Bhatt’s cinematography passes muster. Some of the scenes are slick and sophisticated, while others will only induce chuckles instead of screams of terror.

Bipasha Basu, Dino Morea and Shalini Sharma are adequate, Ashutosh Rana is wasted is this film.

This reviewer is well aware that Raaz has done extremely well at the Box Office in India, I also hear that Dino and Bipasha, a real life couple, very hot property in India, are coming together to act in a a new flick.

|