Who says there is no such thing called "perfection"!? Or that it is unattainable? Your's truly himself believed that one can strive for excellence, but not for perfection, in anything. Until I watched the immensely talented Radhika Apte - who I consider a cavalier of acting - in "Phobia", come up with a performance that does not skip a beat.
Pawan Kripalani, who gave us Ragini MMS and Darr @ the Mall, in the past, is back with a psychological thriller that's lifted exponentially by an imposing performance by Miss Apte. Just shows you what great acting can do.
He shows us that a film of this genre does not need to be totally petrifying, and does well to fit in the chills, consistently. One would also need to give him full-marks for making his protagonist act without make-up, for the most part, thus making it totally believable.
Mahek Rao (Radhika Apte) is an artist that gets attacked by a taxi-driver on her way home after a successful exhibition of her art. The assault puts her in trauma and she develops an intense fear of strangers - and people in general, except for her sister, her good friend, Shaan, and her therapist. What makes it even worse is her phobia of even stepping out of the house.
Her sister, unable to put up with her 'antics', dismisses her - just like that (!) - and Shaan shifts her into a friend’s apartment. Soon, Mahek starts seeing and hearing things. Could they be hallucinations? Or was the prior occupant of the flat brutally murdered?
Her crazy next-door neighbour, Manu, who laughs like a maniac, only adds to the suspense. Along with another neighbour, Nikki, who seems to be the only person supportive of her experiences and sightings, she tries to get to the bottom of things.
Satyadeep Mishra, Nivedita Bhattacharya and Yashaswini Dayama support Radhika Apte ably.
The humour is good and subtle.
The background score by Karan Gaur is apt.
Coming to the cons, I thought that the first half could have extended itself with a couple more episodes of horror as it appeared to be way too short!
To me - and I'm sure many others, too - it defies logic as to why Mahek would be made to stay alone and unattended to - I mean, come on (!), she is ill and needs family support, right, you'd imagine - but well, it is what it is...
The most noticeable thing to me was perhaps the usage of the word "acrophobia". Mahek has a fear of people and open or public places. Isn't that agoraphobia? I think I read (in the subtitles) and heard the word "acrophobia" instead, unless I'm mistaken.
Coming out of the movie-hall, I was wondering what if the movie had only been eerier and longer (by another twenty minutes or so), while enamoured by Apte's natural performance.
It's not very often that you come across a well-kempt tale connecting the dots right through the end in Bollywood and it was good to see that in this film.
All-in-all, a decent psycho-drama. Please watch this for Radhika Apte, even if horror is not your favourite genre. :)
My verdict: 3.5 out of 5.
Pawan Kripalani, who gave us Ragini MMS and Darr @ the Mall, in the past, is back with a psychological thriller that's lifted exponentially by an imposing performance by Miss Apte. Just shows you what great acting can do.
He shows us that a film of this genre does not need to be totally petrifying, and does well to fit in the chills, consistently. One would also need to give him full-marks for making his protagonist act without make-up, for the most part, thus making it totally believable.
Mahek Rao (Radhika Apte) is an artist that gets attacked by a taxi-driver on her way home after a successful exhibition of her art. The assault puts her in trauma and she develops an intense fear of strangers - and people in general, except for her sister, her good friend, Shaan, and her therapist. What makes it even worse is her phobia of even stepping out of the house.
Her sister, unable to put up with her 'antics', dismisses her - just like that (!) - and Shaan shifts her into a friend’s apartment. Soon, Mahek starts seeing and hearing things. Could they be hallucinations? Or was the prior occupant of the flat brutally murdered?
Her crazy next-door neighbour, Manu, who laughs like a maniac, only adds to the suspense. Along with another neighbour, Nikki, who seems to be the only person supportive of her experiences and sightings, she tries to get to the bottom of things.
Satyadeep Mishra, Nivedita Bhattacharya and Yashaswini Dayama support Radhika Apte ably.
The humour is good and subtle.
The background score by Karan Gaur is apt.
Coming to the cons, I thought that the first half could have extended itself with a couple more episodes of horror as it appeared to be way too short!
To me - and I'm sure many others, too - it defies logic as to why Mahek would be made to stay alone and unattended to - I mean, come on (!), she is ill and needs family support, right, you'd imagine - but well, it is what it is...
The most noticeable thing to me was perhaps the usage of the word "acrophobia". Mahek has a fear of people and open or public places. Isn't that agoraphobia? I think I read (in the subtitles) and heard the word "acrophobia" instead, unless I'm mistaken.
Coming out of the movie-hall, I was wondering what if the movie had only been eerier and longer (by another twenty minutes or so), while enamoured by Apte's natural performance.
It's not very often that you come across a well-kempt tale connecting the dots right through the end in Bollywood and it was good to see that in this film.
All-in-all, a decent psycho-drama. Please watch this for Radhika Apte, even if horror is not your favourite genre. :)
My verdict: 3.5 out of 5.
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