100 Days

100 Days is a Amazing Great Thriller from Bollywood. Slightly borrowed from Hollywood movie Eyes of Laura Mars, 100 Days Impresses the viewers. Madhuri Dixit is the main character in this movie. Looking sexy as usual, Madhuri delivers a Great performance. Jackie Shroff Plays the Actor of the movie with some negative shades. I remember when i saw this when it came out new. I was about 6 years old then, the movie scared me a little. For those who have not seen this movie, do not get fooled by the unusual title. The movie is called 100 days for a reason. Madhuri has many Scary premonitions in this movie, which turn real. This is a Bollywood Delight. If you fancy seeing a spooky Bollywood thriller, this is for you.

If you're looking for a good Psychological Thriller hindi movie then you should watch 100 days. Film revolves around Devi, a woman who get some visions from the future (something we've seen in Final Destination series) searching for her missing sister, she tracks the clues to identify the murderer. The film is the adaptation of Hollywood's 1977 The Psychic. Direction and background score of the movie makes sure that you get thriller experience right from its start as you'll see mystery building up as film progresses. Movie is entertaining along with Madhuri's leading performance supported well by the Javed Jaffery

100 Days is such kind of a thriller that completely satisfied the appetite of the viewer who wants to see an intelligent thriller. the premonition or extra sensory perception issue dealt with utmost sensitivity, care and presented with logics supported by the psychologists comments in the movie that the viewer completely believes in the subject and in real it is also true. Not only thrilling but also the love angels and portions are screen played very beautifully. The images that MADHURI sees with open eyes gives a very engaging and very interesting touch to the film. The proceedings of the goings on is superb and nobody can judge the KILLER till end. Performance wise Madhuri as usual gets the maximum scope and acted her part with par excellence. JAckie shroff acted well as the hero of the film while side actors like neelam, sabiha and moon moon sen are likable. Special mention for the music. The background sound while Madhuri watches the images is really spooky and gives a deep and mysterious feeling. A must watch and really great thriller for all the movie buffs.

Devi (Madhuri Dixit) is a "precog", or precognizant--she gets visions of some events before they occur. Near the beginning of the film she receives a vision of her sister, Rama (Sabeeha), being killed, so she desperately tries to stop what she believes is inevitable. Before she can take action, her sister disappears. We move five years into the future. After accidentally ending up at the wrong wedding, Ram Kumar (Jackie Shroff) sees Devi and falls in love. He buys the bungalow next to Devi's and courts her. Soon after, Devi begins receiving another vision of a woman being murdered--only this time she doesn't know the identity of the victim. Can she find out who the woman is before it is too late?

For a film that is occasionally very schizophrenic, 100 Days holds together extremely well, even seeming tightly focused overall. The disparate elements come by way of the typical range of genres in a Bollywood film. For example, in the middle of the opening thriller material, all of a sudden director Parto Ghosh breaks out into goofy musical number, complete with faux-action/adventure/crime elements interspersed with pie throwing and a fashion display that's right out of a Kajagoogoo video--in other words, heavy 1980s style ala leg warmers, big hair, skinny ties and so on. Then for much of the first hour or so, 100 Days becomes more of a light romantic comedy. The thriller material returns stronger in the second half, although the musical numbers still tend to lighten the mood more than they ideally should.

The tone of the film, then, is a strong contrast to some of the work of other Indian horror/thriller directors such as Ram Gopal Varma, who has famously forgone musical numbers in films such as Raat (1992), as has Guddu Dhanoa in films such as Hawa (2003). But Ghosh manages to tie everything together so that the romantic elements, musical numbers and comic relief (especially in characters such as Balam, played by Laxmikrant Berde) not only provide a balance for the more intense material, but seem integral to the film--100 Days wouldn't be quite as good as it is in absence of any of its varied moods. Heck, Ghosh even makes repeated footage seem as if it's necessary rather than just being padding.

And of course these different elements help set 100 Days apart from its precursor on the horror/thriller end, Lucio Fulci's Sette note in nero (1977), which also has elements of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat" (originally published in 1843). Ghosh also adds a number of interesting, recurring motifs, such as the pervasive conch shells, the statues/taxidermy specimens and the water symbolism, which helps bring to mind later films with a relation to "The Black Cat", such as Byeong-ki Ahn's Phone (2002).

The performances throughout are very good. Of course it's primarily up to Dixit to help tie all of the threads together, but she receives a lot of help from Shroff, Berde, Javed Jaffrey as Devi's friend Sunil, and Jay Kalgutar as Jagmohan. At first I was lamenting Berde's relative absence later in the film, but as he's strictly comic relief, this was necessary. By the end, Ghosh is only concerned with increasing a roller coaster-like intensity, which he does effectively. Rather than continuing comic relief, he adds other elements to the overarching thriller atmosphere, such as a big action scene set in a junkyard that showcases some impressive stunts.

Anyone who is a fan of the average Bollywood film and who also likes western thrillers should enjoy 100 Days.

100 Days review :

One of the most chilling thrillers of '90s; 100 Days also brought two dancing sensations - Madhuri Dixit and Javed Jaffrey - together in the spectacularly picturised 'De De Dil Le Le Dil' song. Watching both dance together was itself worth the ticket price..

The bonus came in form of a unique plot involving premonition which Madhuri gets about her elder sis Moon Moon Sen (looking sexy as ever). After her sisters mysterious disappearance, Madhuri meets our hero Jackie Shroff and he woos her to marriage. Bechaara Javed ends up being a dost only!!

The plot thickens when Madhuri starts visualizing the murder clues in her premonitions and dost Javed helps her unravel the raaz behind it. 100 Days was Partho Ghosh's first release as a director (His supposed debut film Mera Damaad (1986) got a limited release in 1995) and his taut and racy execution was much appreciated.

Originally, Neelam and Javed Jaffery were to play the leads but later the script went to Jackie Dada with some changes and he came on board with Madhuri as the main lead while Javed Jaffrey played the supporting role.

Ram Laxman's music was the film's highlight with 'Sun Beliya', 'Gabbar Singh' and of course 'De De Dil' becoming chartbusters.

Madhuri looked absolutely gorgeous in the film and this is one of her underrated performances. Jackie Dada was earnest as always. So was Javed. Laxmikant Berde provided the laughter quotient and his wedding gift ploy was truly lol worthy. Jai Kalgutkar impressed as the bald baddie.

100 Days released at Metro Cinema, Mumbai where it ran for a couple of weeks before shifting to Naaz Cinema where it celebrated its 100 days. :) I had seen the film on its first Saturday at Badal Bijlee Cinema, Matunga where it ran Housefull for multiple weeks. An unmissable film, in case you have not seen it yet!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.