After having gone back and fourth for 2 years over sorting out a surprise "Bollywood night" for a friend, (which thankfully would not involve dancing,due to me having 2 left feet!)I decided a few days ago to at last finish with the stop/starting,and finally sort the planned night out.With being to sort out a Bollywood for my friend that was a little bit off-beat,I decided to pick up the second film in writer/director Vikram Bhatt's loose Ghost/Demon trilogy,which is also one of the few post-2000 Bollywood movies to be set during the UK occupation of a pre-Independence India.
The plot:
Quickly gathering his senses as he witnesses his father attempt to kill his fiancé,due to her having a different religious belief to their's,Arjun Singh Rathod pulls Lisa to safety,and attacks his dad for attempting to kill Lisa.Angered over his father's attempts to kill Lisa,Arjun announces that he is turning his back on his family and their strict religious beliefs,due to Lisa's love being the main thing that he holds dearest in the world.
Desperate to leave the darkness in their lives behind,Arjun and Lisa get married in a low-key ceremony,as Arjun also searches round for an architect job,which will allow him to earn some money.
Fearful over no job opportunities coming up,Arjun is relived to receive an invitation from a wealthy businessman to design a building that will be built over a soon to be knocked down,disused mansion.Shocked at the wonderful offer,Arjun is soon left speechless,when the business man says that he and Lisa can both live at the mansion,so that Arjun can make his design as precise as possible.
Gripping the opportunity with both hands,Arjun brushes aside Lisa's complain's of there being something wrong with the mansion,by telling Lisa that she just needs time to get used to their new location.Attempting to stay true to Arjun's request,Lisa soon begins to find a deep fear slowly seep into her skin,when she notices a paining hanging in a mysterious room of the mansion,which bears an uncanny resemblance to herself
View on the film:
Opening with a gliding shot of a horse driven carriage to the mansion,co-writer/ (along with Girish Dhamija,Sameer and Dheeraj Rattan) director Vikram Bhatt and cinematography Pravin Bhatt cover the film in a misty Gothic chill,with the Bhatt's keeping the mansion in low- light,so that every step that Arjun and Lisa makes round the mansion causes maximum tension of something bursting out of an unknown corner of the mansion.
Being one of the few recent Bollywood movies to be set in a pre- Independence India,Vikram and Pravin Bhatt subtly include the tension in the air of the time,with all of the character's in the film being shown to have a strong unease of being around people with different political/social beliefs,which along with the movie's terrific Gothic element,makes the sometimes goofy looking special effects ones that are easy to forgive.
Whilst the screenplay's message of staying true to your roots and excepting others no matter what their belief's are is delivered in a well meaning,but heavy-handed way,the writer's make sure that any risked of preaching is kept away by a strong wall of Gothic Horror,with the writer's slowly revealing how tangled the mansion's centre has become with deadly Supernatural Horror roots,as Arjun and Lisa begin to unravel the truth behind the mysterious painting.
