Raaz

The summary says it all. This movie may not be different in the sense that its original - not at all, in fact there is a lot about it that is ripped from other movies - Bollywood and Hollywood. But, what a relief from the other romantic movies making its rounds. This was one of the most enjoyable movies i have seen this year, and im sure everyone else will fell the same way.

Bipasha Basu...wow, what can i say. She is so talented and not to mention beautiful. if her solid performance in raaz does not boost her career, noting will. Dino Morea was excellent as well. What a couple. the chemistry is amazing, so they must be doing something right.

on a whole, a wonderful movie, that for once, has you guessing till the end. A must see!

A group of college students are having a good time in the woods playing "Spin the bottle". When the bottle points at a beautiful woman named "Nisha" (Mink Singh) she playfully runs off rather than kiss the young man (Ali Asghar) she is supposed to. While alone and in the dark she is possessed by an evil spirit and then unexpectedly attacks Ali before finally being confined in a mental hospital. She dies not long afterward but the evil spirit isn't quite through. Meanwhile, a young man named "Aditya Dhanraj" (Dino Morea) and his gorgeous wife "Sanjana Dhanraj" (Bipasha Basu) are having marital problems and decide to take a vacation. Unfortunately, their destination is the same place where the evil spirit possessed and killed Nisha. And it is waiting for them. At any rate, rather than giving away any of the mysteries in this film and spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that I really enjoyed this movie. It has a good plot and some excellent musical scores. Likewise, Bipasha Basu not only looked nice but she put on a fine performance as well. That said, I highly recommend this film for those who enjoy a decent horror movie or Bollywood films in general.

After you have seen endless popsicle movies with one Clown who self proclaims himself as the greatet actor and the imbeciles of the media who praises him to the hilt that is decadance of an Industry and you begin to wonder the state of the Industry,then comes along movies that puts your faith back in the Hindi movies and Raaz is one of them. Consummate actors like Aushotosh Rana,The haunting melody of the music that was the staple of the yester years,the location (Ooty or Ootacamund, a hill station the Indian Switzerland),the Ace direction by one of the top directors, good looking actors,the thrill of watching a movie is back. Raaz is one of the best romantic thriller after "Bees Sal Baad" a classic of the sixties.

Raaz is a very average film in terms of film-making. It's a very funny mixture of thriller and romance. While films like Bhoot use music which contributes to the film's genre perfectly, the songs in Raaz are very melodious and romantic, which makes them odd and unsuitable for a thriller like Raaz. Anyway, if the film had been made as a complete thriller, it would probably have not succeeded commercially as expected by the producers. Generally, thrillers and horror films often display magical realism to make it more convincing and scaring (again, Bhoot), and the acting is natural for the same purpose, but this film has far too many unrealistic sequences, over-the-top dialogues and exaggerated acting (except for Bipasha) even in very ordinary and simple scenes which are not part of the suspense. This does not mean though the effect was damaged completely, because you wouldn't really expect to see a realistic film with such a story. Raaz therefore does work as a thriller most of the time.

Dino Morea does not make a great impact. This is not really a performance-driven role, though he is restrained throughout and looks suitable for the role. The film has one main highlight for me, and it's Bipasha Basu who carries the film on her own shoulders. Although these were still the days when she had not yet become a national sex symbol, this girl had extremely expressive eyes and graceful mannerisms. She did not perform brilliantly, nor did she look as stunningly beautiful as she looks today, but she did perform well and looked attractive and beautiful. And the dubbing artist... she did a fabulous job for her. And speaking of dubbing, yes, the film secretly used professional dubbing for several actors, including the main lead, which is good because from what I know the starring actors were yet to work on their voices and diction at that point of time. And though it does make wonders, as the performances seem to be much more convincing, the dubbing at several points faces foul-ups. Several scenes had a noticeable lack of compatibility between the voice over and the facial expressions, which was quite annoying. Anyway, Raaz may not be a great film, but it is a decent entertainer, and as a time-pass flick it does the required. It may have had better results had it been directed by someone like Ram Gopal Varma, but it should be worthy of a one-time watch.

Asian filmmakers keep surprising us these past years. India does it this time with horror as part of a musical film. In the spirit of Bollywood. But I must say, I have never been a horrorfan. And so I actually was not sure if I should watch this movie. No regrets. The story is good, although the full explanation of what happened in the past is a bit long. But it is Bollywood, and they don't send you home after 74 or 90 minutes watching in full speed. They give you value for your money. Even the make up is well done, compare to other movies in it's genre, and the music is at the right time, the right place and in the right mood. Bollywood has done well with this movie, but I still prefer the romantic stuff...