A Flat Review

A FLAT is a Hindi feature film which is a horror film based on ghost and spirit and is a revenge drama. Just like most of the horror movies, A FLAT too revolves around a haunted home.

This year so many horror movies were released. Except a few, none of them did good business or scare the viewers. The film BHOOT was also a horror film which was shot in the same housing complex.  While watching A FLAT you may remember film KUDRAT of Chetan Anand which was a multi starrer. However it would not be fair to compare horror films VASSTU SHASHTRA or BHOOT or KUDRAT with the movie A FLAT because of different stories of each film. However treatments of each film is almost same : to scare you through some scary scenes.

Only a few films in the past were successful in scaring you to some extent or say only a few scenes of a few horror films could frighten you.

In a horror film everyone anticipates that a ghost or spirit is going to create terror for the characters of the film. But how the director executes and how the sound effects are given or how special effects and graphics are used; are of utmost importance. In all such departments this film is an average.

The story of the film is such:

The story of the movies revolves around Rahul (Jimmy Shergil) who lives in United States. He is living in a mysterious FLAT which affects his live for ever. He is forced to think that a few persons of past can in reality alter the whole avenue of his life.
Rahul is enforced to come back to mollify his love- Preeti, after a succession of entirely jumbled events that leaves him entirely shocked. But firstly, he needs to deal with the unexpected and ill-fated death of his dad in some very suspicious atmosphere after he visits the FLAT. Secondly he needs to deal with the spectacular disappearance of Preeti, who was his girlfriend. This leaves him absolutely dazed.
Rahul is alone there…trapped in that FLAT (which he possess)… and no one else is with him other than - a spirit…who would not let him go off and Rahul is now entirely cut off from the rest of the world in the FLAT.
It is throughout this phase that Rahul goes through his expedition of soul probing. He comprehends that he subjugated Preeti. He tries to think whether that FLAT was actually what he thought or whether it was his mind's eye or it was a trap, laid for him. He trembles to think that some other persons past could really alter his whole life and now he needs to soon discover a way out of this circumstances or else he would not be safe by his only friend 'the Ghost'.

What happens to Rahul is the rest of the film.

This is Hemant Madhukar's debut film as a director. He might have chosen an average subject but the writing and the treatment doesn't hook you till the end. The film is not even scary as mentioned above.
Even though it is a horror movie, it needed good scripting. Some makers think that since they are making horror film only scary location and scary music etc would work. But even ghost movies need good writing.

DOP has used hand handled camera most of the times (which is required in most of the horror movies). But the background score is more than required and so are the sound effects.

The director has not done proper casting. Hazel has been presented as a village belle but from any angle, she doesn't look like that. Sanjay Suri is a good actor but he doesn't fit into the role of evil guy.

Scenes of romance between Kaveri Jha and Jimmy Shergil are not portrayed well and appear to be half baked. The conclusion appears to be quite similar to an old film KUDRAT.

However Jimmy Shergil has tried to play his part well.

The DOP has done his job well and has captured some locales of North India in a well manner.

A FLAT is average in horror category. It has been made in a low budget (most of the horror films are made in low budget) hence you can't expect too much from them.

If you a horror film lover, who can't miss any horror film, you can go for it otherwise there is nothing new in it.