'1920' -Scary in scraps

Starring : Adah Sharma, Rajneesh Duggal
Director : Vikram Bhatt

Vikram Bhatt’s horror movie ‘1920’ doesn’t leave you zombied. But it does scare you enough to have a few sweaty, sleepless hours when you hit the bed at night.

The movie derives its title from the year it’s set in, when huge mansions (in present-day Yorkshire) stood tall on the suburbs of Mumbai and horse-drawn carriages plied on dusty grounds carrying dandy men in suits and women in Victorian gowns and hats. Sadly, there aren’t any buxom ladies in tight corsets here.

Rajneesh Duggal plays Arjun, an architect, and Adah Sharma plays his catholic wife, Lisa. The couple, wedded despite parental disapproval, arrives at a haveli that the suave architect plans to convert into a hotel as his big project. The only trouble is – the haveli is haunted by a spirit that eventually possesses Lisa. Even as the girl transforms from a beautiful bride to a withered zombie that talks in multiple voices and levitates in bed, the guy doesn’t run away but stands beside her, his love unshaken, until he finds a way to exorcise her of the demonic spirit.

Despite this, the film works to an extent because Vikram Bhatt holds it tight until the very climax. The director lays the ground in the first half and shoots up the scare-quotient in the second half considerably enough for you to feel a full bladder mid-way through your carbonated drink.

The film also works because its actors, Rajneesh Duggal and Adah Sharma, deliver credible performances in aptly-suited roles. Adah’s blanched complexion particularly makes her well-suited to play a possessed girl. Raj Zutsi as the scowling priest is too stilted.

The music is quite evocative except the Rakhi Sawant number which stands out like a sore thumb in this sufficiently spooky tale.

Just don’t go expecting too much and there are chances that you might get some paisa-vasool scares.

‘1920’ released on September 12th, 2008

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Rock On'

No matter if you’re a rocker or no-rocker – this is one movie you shouldn’t miss. Even if you have an ingrained aversion to the jarring sounds of the distortion-guitars and keep a safe audible distance from anything with a semblance of rock, you should still watch this flick............more

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Bachna Ae Haseeno'

Friends, it’s Independence for Yashraj Films from its jinxed series of sub-standard films that has by now dented the reputation of the elite production house known for telling its stories against the backdrop of nothing less than Swiss Alps or Sydney Harbour or...........more

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Singh Is Kinng'

Singh Is Kinng begins in Australia but the movie actually takes off a few reels later in a Punjab village when the protagonist Happy Singh is introduced. Akshay stands like a scarecrow, clenching the corners of his kurta sleeves and flashing that million-dollar gummy...........more

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na'

There is something about Imran Khan that makes him very endearing. He has the demeanor of a shy guy with a rare combination of the sharp and meek, the clever and vulnerable. He has an unpretentious, honest face, clear eyes and a voice that is confident and also inhibited...........more

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic'

All cinematic blasphemies can be forgiven when you see a delightful, heart-winning tale filled with fun; frolic, fantasy and some tear-jerking drama unfold on the screen. That’s what Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic is. So even if you think for a moment that director Kunal Kohli has blasphemed when ..........more

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Haal-E-Dil'

Introducing three newcomers, ‘Haal-e-Dil’ promises to be a heart-winning romantic movie. The film is primarily the launchpad of Amita Pathak, the doted daughter of producer Kumar Mangat. It also introduces two debutants – Adhyayan (Shekhar Suman’s son) and Nakuul Mehta ..........more

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------