Hawa

As mentioned by others, Hawa borrows heavily from the Barbara Hershey film The Entity and to a lesser degree from Poltergeist. This kind of homage is typical of Bollywood horror films, but outside of that Hawa is anything BUT typical of Indian horror movies. As an American viewer I -- like most of my countrymen -- have been desensitized enough by Hollywood slasher films that an old-fashioned spook story doesn't usually get much of a rise out of me. What is horrifying in India is usually prime time TV fodder here on this side of the world. And while Hawa isn't going to make me check under the bed at night, it did have enough suspense to raise a few hairs on my neck. Surprising when considering its obvious similarities to two films I've seen several times before. A few more films like this one and Bollywood will begin to be viewed as a credible producer of films in the horror genre by those accustomed to the more graphic Western versions. Normally I would recommend that if you want to watch Indian movies, stick with what Bollywood does best -- romantic comedy, drama, musicals and the like. But in this case I'm willing to make an exception. Hawa is definitely worth a watch, and if you're easily spooked it might even scare you. If you're not, it may still creep you out a little.

Guddu Dhanoa's "Hawa" clearly takes an inspiration from "The Enity"(1981)and "Poltergeist"(1982).The cinematography is excellent and the film is well-directed and acted.Tabu who has just taken a divorce returns to her bungalow in Manali.With her are her two daughters,a dog and her brother(Imran Khan).Soon Tabu,her dog and brother begin to see an invisible spirit.The dog disappears and he returns only dead.The spirit falls for Tabu and rapes her.She meets a doctor(Shabhaz Khan)who doesn't believe that she is molested by an invisible spirit.Tabu is raped repeatedly.She desperately tries to find the truth about her invisible assailant."Hawa" is a good piece of Hindi horror.The rape scenes are not graphic,but they are actually a bit disturbing.The film is creepy,so fans of Hindi horror won't be disappointed.Highly recommended.8 out of 10.

A small car drives along a long barren road through mountains dusted with snow. A real estate agent is taking Sanjana, her younger brother, and her two young daughters to see an isolated house in the woods. She wouldn't be able to afford it, but for some reason the agent has had the house for some time, and again it is very isolated. There also is, or will soon be, a ghost there.

This is rather a classic opening. The last movie I watched with much the same setup was The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), though that ghost was considerably friendlier.

The young woman is separated from her husband, though I think not actually divorced. She runs an antique store in town, where a Tibetan lady hands her a metal charm of some kind, saying that she'll need it. A moment later when two tourists see it, they buy it, and she lets them, even though the Tibetan lady had said she didn't want it sold. She looks for the Tibetan lady to give her the money, but doesn't find her until later, and not without incident.

When first driving to the new house, they get a flat tire on a long one-lane bridge so narrow that it doesn't allow the car doors to open enough to get out. They slowly drive on, and there are other bad omens. When the agent puts his key in the lock of the front door, it won't open. This is one of a number of CGI scenes, in which we get a view of the key turning inside the lock from the inside.

They have a dog named Tram, and they say his name dozens of times, or "C'mon Tram!" in English. They frequently slip between English and Hindi or whatever dialect it is. The copy I watched was subtitled in English, except for the English spoken dialog. The dog knows something is wrong.

Sometime after a lightning strike, Sanjana is raped by a ghost. This movie is largely ripped off from The Entity, but does not have any of the nudity that film did. That's OK, but unfortunately the first rape scene comes off a little silly at least initially, which is the wrong spirit entirely. A pillow weakly flies over her head, like a puppeteer was having trouble lifting it. She then holds the pillow over her head by keeping it between her forearm and bicep. Ostensibly, she was using that arm to try to push the ghost off her, and it pinned her arm against the pillow and her face. That's not what it looks like, particularly since the pillow is just on top of her face and not pressed against it. I was reminded of Bela Lugosi wrapping a limp fake octopus's arms around him to make it look like he is fighting it in Ed Wood.

One could argue from the above that some ambiguity is meant, i.e. that perhaps she is only imagining the attack. However, we actually see some ghostly hands running over her by way of CGI. I don't recall that we ever actually saw the ghost in The Entity, only the signs of it.

In a later scene, her bed starts rocking around along with other poltergeist activity. On the soundtrack, there is rhythmic whomping straight out of The Entity. I don't know if it was a direct steal, or if they simply duplicated it, but there really is some brazen plagiarism going on here. She flees with her family, and takes refuge at a friend's house, where the friend's husband is quite angry to have guests, just as in The Entity.

She also gets raped in the bathroom, as in The Entity, and the ghost also has sex with her more gently while she is sleeping, fooling her, as in The Entity, and it also attacks her right in front of her family as in The Entity. If I were involved with that earlier film, I'd be looking for some of the profits from Hawa.

Definitely not a movie for the kids! The kids in this movie are there largely for comic relief, it seems, and to provide some drama towards the end. One of the girls often tells her sister "I told you to call me didi!," which is what their uncle calls their mother ("big sister" I think). They get some chocolate cake, and both pound their utensils on the table quickly shouting "cake cake cake!" or something like that.

Sanjana sees a doctor, who thinks she may have multiple personalities. He's a pretty bad doctor, with really bad bedside manner. Nevertheless, she never makes an effort to see someone else.

The movie does go into some territory not covered by The Entity when it explores the origin of the ghost, and also when the ghost kidnaps someone. Unlike the parapsychologists in The Entity, who try to attack the problem from a (supposedly) scientific angle, the parapsychologist (he is called that) in this movie is more of a psychic/exorcist.

This movie ends on a more positive note than The Entity did, which had a real downer of an ending, but it also has some ambiguity so it's not clear how well things really turned out after all. The Entity is much more disturbing and more depressing overall. I wouldn't recommend this one except mainly for the scenery and that crazy bridge, although Tabu is fairly good in her role.

A total copy of "The Entity" made in 1981 however the director goofed up big time. Compromising on the CGI makes the movie sloppy and cheesy.

A few scenes are so cheap and make you wonder if you are watching a B-grade movie. In fact the whole movie transports you back 15-years to the era of Ramsay's brothers.

In "The Entity" the protagonist has vast scope to display her histrionics which could have been the only apparent reason for Tabu to nod for the role.

Tabu's early years of troubled childhood leave a bad taste in mouth and the redemption of Avtar Gill makes you wonder if the storyboard got lost during movie-making.

Guddu Dhanoa - please stick to action flicks and Deol's.

Avoid at all costs.

I am extremely shocked and disappointed in the talented Tabu, who is known for picking mature roles, for choosing to perform in such a cheap movie. From the graphics to the story to the plot...you name it, it is bad. This perverted ghost comes over and over again and does the most unbelievable things be it driving a car, exploding windows, or sucking the contents and people of an entire room. To top it all of, the ghost is given a face that looks like a 10-year old's drawing. You'll end up laughing rather than screaming when you watch this "terror."