Darna Zaroori Hai

Article Updated 28 April, 2006 11:17:38 PM IST

Darna Zaroori Hai

If the idea of the filmmaker was to scare the audience then he hasn't succeeded. If it was meant to make them laugh then it hasn't worked. In a way it has, cause the audience might laugh at the filmmakers sense of horror. In retrospect, it's predecessor, 'Darna Mana Hain' seems like a masterpiece. Unfortunately it was a box office disaster despite its unique concept.

'Darna Zaroori Hain' has the same concept as 'Darna Mana Hain'. It's six stories grouped together with a common story linking them.

The first story, which is actually a sort of promo for the film is funny in a silly way. We aren't surprised as it's directed by Sajid Khan! We can't say much about his sense of humour. It's about a mother warning her overgrown son against taking the short cut through a graveyard. The reason is it's Friday the 13th and to make things worse it's 'amavas ki raat'. There's a witch who kills people on these nights. The obvious happens. But the scary end is more hilarious than scary.

The next story is about a professor (Amitabh Bachchan) telling his student (Riteish Deshmukh) about a man with a black cap who walks around his house and even sleeps in his kitchen. Riteish is confused then angry but in the end even he sees the man. Mind Games, that's what we're talking about here!

The end to the next story is more than obvious a little after it begins. A man's (Arjun Ramphal) car breaks down outside an isolated bungalow. He knocks on the door to ask for assistance. The door is opened by a young attractive girl (Bipasha Basu). She has a weird looking husband (Makarand Deshpande) who's also interested in calling the dead using a board and coins. They tease Arjun about them being ghosts themselves but by now you've guessed who's the real ghost.

Next is a film director, Karan Chopra (Anil Kapoor). The name lingers in one's memory as there's an obvious reference to Karan Johar. After a few romantic hit films, he's now keen on making a horror film. The story of his film is about a female ghost who hitches rides on the highway and then kills the person in a brutal manner. She only singles out young men who are alone. Karan is on his way to Khandala to write the climax of his film. He needs five days of peace and solitude to work on it. En route, a young, curvy female (Mallika Sherawat) thumbs a ride with him and they get chatting. He even offers her a stay in his house. She agrees. She goes to the washroom to freshen up, the lights in the bungalow go off and then the obvious happens. Even a five-year-old kid would have been able to predict this one.

Now need we go on with these stories because honestly we can't remember the other two. So they must be truly forgettable. But to give credit to the maker, there are some great camera movements, lighting, and background music that create the right atmosphere. But the problem is each film is very short for the feeling to linger and scare you. Good performances though.

Amitabh's episode manages to create the right mood. Anil Kapoor's episode makes an impact when Mallika reveals that she's a ghost. At this point he's just entered the famous tunnel on the Khandala highway. The camera movement here is worth making a note of.

Now what's the common story linking these stories. There's a group of five school kids out on a school picnic. They wander into the jungle, get caught in a rain and seek shelter in an old, isolated bungalow. A very old lady who lives in the bungalow agrees to give them shelter and entertains them with these stories. You don't need Sherlock Holmes to tell you what happened to these kids. Probably Hitchcock would have said it in a better way.

If one wants to watch a horror film then one would be better off borrowing a DVD and watching the famous Hollywood ones. If you still want to watch a Ram Gopal Varma horror film then you'd rather watch his old horror films, 'Kaun' or 'Bhoot'. This one's worth a miss. One doesn't need to spell out the box office fate of this film.

** (Two stars)
*poor; **average; ***good; ****very good; *****excellent

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