Haunted Review

HAUNTED is a horror Hindi movie produced under the banner of BVG Films and DAR Motion Pictures. It released on 6th May, 2011.

Story : The story mostly revolves around a HAUNTED mansion which is named as Glen manor. It was been built in a lonely hill station many years ago.

Rehan (Mahakshay Chakraborty ) is a US returned guy who is a son of estate agent. His father requests him to dispose off this mansion so due to this reason he arrives in India. Theafter things turn and he gets involved in quest to unravel the secret of that HAUNTED mansion in which he gets indulged in saving a gorgeous girl. But that girl is already dead.

When Rehan reaches the Mansion, he bumps into Ramu Kaka who is actually the caretaker but when he sees Rehan he gets substituted by a rag picker. Thereafter he puts into Rehan's mind that he was sent there to save the Mansion Glen Manor.

Rehan finds everything mysterious in that Mansion. He notices lights flickering, doors screeching, chandelier tumbling, photo-frame which was time worn, piano which looks unsophisticated, etc. AT night at 3.00 am spirits make the Mansion appear horrifying.

In the beginning Rehan inquires everyone regarding the Mansion's past but he doesn't get any fruitful result. On a day, a book falls from a shelf and he happens to see it. He gets a letter from the book. It was an octogenarian old letter and to his surprise it was till now fresh state from where he goes back into flashback.

The letter was written by the girl Meera (Tia Bajpai) who stated that she had committed suicide because her piano teacher (Arif Zakaria) had raped her ruthlessly and in order to save herself from his further bad intension she had killed him. She further states that the spirit of her piano teacher tortured her every night which was unbearable for her. Hence she used to write letter everyday so that her mother and father could read her letter after coming back from their long tour. He parents had gone to some other place and were expected to return after a year. Meera further writes that thereafter her spirit was tortured everyday by her piano teacher in that mansion and she could not go out of the Mansion as her powers were limited and she could only stay within the mansion.

After knowing Meera's story (tragic tale) Rehan gets motivated to help her out from the clutches of bad spirit of piano teacher.

He takes help of rag picker to solve the problem.

Would Rehan succeed in solving Meera's problem? Would he make the mansion free from the spirits? The answers of such questions form the rest of the story.

Performance : This is the second film of Mimoh after the disaster of his first film JIMMY. Mimoh has changed his name and is now know as Mahakshay Chakraborty. Changing names doesn't matter much but talent matters a lot. He has performed well also but if he wants to survive in Hindi film industry, he must choose good scripts.

Newcomer Tia's performance is average.

Script : The writer of the film Amin Hajee could not keep the story racy and you lose interest at many places.

Editing : The editor Kuldeep Mehan has done some remarkable job to keep the scenes linked and give speed. However, he could have checked the length of the film. He could have edited and cut more scenes to shorten its length.

DOP: In horror films, camerawork plays vital role in the presentation of the characters. You have to create effect of horror ambience with your lights and other techniques. The cinematographer Praveen Bhatt succeeds to some extent in creating horror effect in this film.

Music : In Vikram Bhatt's earlier film RAAZ music was superb but in this film the music fails to create any charm. It is below average.

Sound effect: is good in this film and suits the requirement of the scenes. Even background music is good.

Conclusion : It seems Vikram Bhatt has become passionate about making horror films after the success of his first horror film RAAZ. Though after that he went on making horror films in a row such as 1920, SHAAPIT etc but none of them did as good business as RAAZ did. After doing a few films in a row Bikram Bhatt is familiar with localities, properties, sound effects and properties of horror films and which must have inspired him to make more and more horror films.

Direction : The direction is okay and Vikram Bhatt is acquiring mastery over this genre after Ram Gopal Verma and Ramsay Brothers.

Plus Point: It is India's first 3D horror film which may give the film some advantage.

Minus Point: However, the director has unnecessarily stretched the rape scene which becomes the minus point of the film but many adults like watching such scenes which would motivate them to go for it. However stretching rape scene was not required.

Verdict : This is an average film and if you love watching horror films you can go for it. But there is hardly anything new in it.