Once again a Hindi horror film releases and a decent number of people are there in the theater in its first show itself, proving the huge pull of this particular genre among the audience. But sadly repeating the same old rotten story, this time too we are again served with an all seen before content offering nothing new, either in the plot or the form, without caring about what the viewers actually expect from a horror film precisely. And that is the reason why a foreign horror flick gets a wide release in India, serves the purpose well and earns some quick money easily, but the same is not the case with our own Hindi horror films made within the country.
So frankly there is nothing much to review in this week's MACHHLI JAL KI RANI HAI releasing on Friday the 13th. Since as usual the film wastes a good 40-45 minutes in the silent buildup alone and then comes with the same routine, tried and tested formulas having no novel twist in the second half. The poor songs keep interrupting the narration at times and following the set pattern the director puts in a sensual scene too as 'a must have' in a Hind horror film since ages. Without any fresh angle incorporated in the script, the film fails to impress the viewers completely featuring the same old elements of a haunted house with an ugly history, a savior coming in and then a series of murders around the premises leading to climax full of CGI effects.
In short the only thing which works in the film is Swara Bhaskar, sincerely trying too hard to portray her given role as a thorough professional, though her make-up and costumes could have been much better. A few brutal, bloody sequences do provide the (much awaited) timely shocks in its concluding hour but nothing else catches your attention in the film as it should, be it cinematography, sound effects, background score or the avoidable poor soundtrack, to be straight. In the rest of the cast, Bhanu Uday keeps trying it over the top and only Saurabh Dubey performs well whereas Murali Sharma is just there to show his face in only 2-3 scenes.
To end on a positive note, no doubt director Debaloy Dey proves his creative ability to handle a horror project well. But I seriously wish his writers could think of a novel plot to base the film on, as the westerners try to do in most of their new horror flicks having some kind of USP to win over the viewers. So with a hope that the team might come up with a better horror flick next time, you can easily wait for its DVD release or a channel telecast soon in the coming months.
