Marma was released at the time most of the horrible crappy directors were trying to keep the horror genre alive with their newly fangled ideas that more or less were limited to one particular subject - explicit bold scenes. Despite its shoe string budget, the movie is enjoyable until the last scene. This is a highly unpredictable thriller that has doses of delusion, love, psychology and belief. There are also several moments that take you to the state of 'Haute Tension' at times . Marma (original Kannada title) was released under the name 'Shock - Ek Raat' in Hindi. As I am not much into South Cinema, I didn't bother about the star cast, and believe me whatever I saw, was perfectly mind blowing.
Sudha (Prema) has been engaged to Anand (Anand). Sudha belongs to a high profile family and so does Anand. Anand decides to throw a party at his farm house to celebrate their engagement. Anand is somehow unable to pick Sudha from her home and requests her to join the party at his farm house on her own. The weather outside is frowning with anger. Sudha drives off her car but is caught amidst heavy downpour. On the way she stops at a gas station and the friendly attendant warns her of the bad weather. Sudha somehow forgets the way to Anand's farm house and ends up at a cottage, where she finds a man in blue denims basking before fire. She tries to call him again and again but the man won't respond. Sudha gathers some more courage and goes upstairs where she finds a dead woman behind the wall. It looks that the woman was a fresh kill and the man in denims had killed her and is now waiting for a good time to get rid of the corpse. Sudha is horrified and turns behind only to find the man in denims approaching her. She rushes to the balcony but loses control and falls down unconscious.
Next morning, Sudha finds herself at the hospital. Her family soon arrives and she is discharged. It seems Sudha somehow saved severe injuries. However, she doesn't remember how she ended up at the hospital all by herself. Soon a transformation in Sudha's personality begins. She has a button, which according to her belongs to the man in denims. Despite hard trials, she is unable to forget him. Later she claims that the man in denims appears in her room and tries to kill her. Her family seeks help of an exorcist but Sudha disgraces and beats him up badly. Sudha's father is much worried of her condition and fortifies his house, reinforces the security and unleashes watch dogs. However, these tricks don't work as we see Sudha struggling in her room with an unseen entity, who she claims is the man in denims. Sudha doesn't have more than a button to justify the existence of the killer. Due to Sudha's falling mental health her marriage with Anand is postponed. Finally a certain Psycholologist Dr. Rao is able to find a cure for Sudha, but Sudha was much better when she was ill, because after getting cured she has to face a truth she never dreamed of.
I keep this movie very close to me. It has various unthinkable twists that continuously surprise and trouble the viewers. Prema in her performance has said more than she was expected to. The tricky camera work adds value to the story and the performances by other characters remain praiseworthy. The best thing about 'Marma' is its continuity and restlessness. At places the atmosphere goes so tense that the mind seeks peace. I bet Sunil Kumar Desai has much to teach to the Bollywood horror veteran directors like Ram Gopal Verma and others. Now I am not expecting 'Marma' to be compared with 'Darna Mana Hai', 'Agyaat', 'Haunted 3D' and so on as such films are merely a mixture of pathetic imagination, foolish storyline, bad scares and overacting fools. A bunch of Bollywood horror directors of the new era with all their best efforts and mega star cast wouldn't be able to make a low-budget masterpiece like 'Marma', which has much to do with the evil inside than the evil outside.
