I was eagerly waiting for Ek Thi Dayaan since last one month and had to struggle to watch it on Friday night in a Multiplex in Mumbai after clearing a hectic schedule of prior commitments. Well, it was a sense of relief as the film didn't disappointed me. So go ahead and read it to decide if you want to watch this movie or not.
Emraan Hashmi, Bobo, the magician is in a live-in relationship with Tamra, a beautiful girl played by Huma Qureshi. He has a wonderful life as he is a successful magician, has a beautiful girlfriend and the couple want to adopt a lovable orphan kid. But wait; there is a haunting past which keeps knocking every now and then in front of Bobo as he remembers his childhood life; when he had an adorable father, a sweet little sister and his step mom Diana whom he hated her.
The story swings between Psychological Thriller, Paranormal and Supernatural situations forcing the audience to keep guessing on what lies behind the spooky events that unfolds every now and then in the film.
The events no doubt are scary and chill the bottom of your seat and even force you to jump out of your seat once or twice. The scenes where he thinks that the lift of his building goes to the hell where all the creepy people of his building who did sins in their life now stay in the hell of the building after their death scares you like hell. The mystery behind spotting a witch through the help of a book on Witches makes you think whether the witches are a reality. After a long time I get to see the right kind of haunting cinema from the Bollywood which is different from the usual Vikram Bhatt movies.
Enters a psychiatrist who had counseled Bobo earlier and then he hypnotizes him to go back to his past and reveal on how his father and his sister died. But the beauty of this revelation lies in the fact that whether this is a real revelation or just a story cooked up the disturbed mind of the magician Bobo. His fiancée Tamra, with whom he gets married forces him to sell his old flat where he stayed as a kid to another character by the name Lisa Dutt played by Kalki Koechlin. There is a mystery around the character Lisa Dutt and Emraan Hashmi goes on to unlock this mystery.
This is where the film loosens a bit and the climax goes on to follow a typical Vikram Bhatt or Ramsey style cinema.
Emraan Hashmi has matured as an actor and has a proved screen presence. Huma Qureshi is bold, sensuous and acts well. She is one actor who will go a long way in Bollywood. Konkana Sen Sharma as the Stepmother does well in her Grey shades. The supporting cast played by Pawan Malhotra who plays the father of Emraan Hashmi also plays his part well. I really liked the role of Psychiatrist played by Rajatava Dutta and of younger Emraan Hashmi played by Vishesh Tiwari.
Kannan Iyer as the débutant director gets a thumbs up as he tries to break away from the typical thriller and horror movies that are being made in Bollywood. He manages to scare his audience and entertain as well. The script and screenplay is good and Vishal Bhardwaj stands up to his name. Not to forget we get to see the magic of Gulzaar Saab lyrics again as we can't stop hearing, humming and appreciating the song "Yaaram" from the movie.
Overall, the movie is a good watch and takes you on a drive to the mystery world of witches, hell, hallucination and horror.
