Raaz

When I was watching Raaz, I was annoyed how cliché this movie was. There are what, thousand haunting house movies made? Well, with that in my mind, I still wanted to see this movie. Approximately one hour and a half, there are several interesting twist in this movie, and that made this movie very interesting. The movie was not really scary. But I think this movie is still very entertaining to watch. The acting is really good. The setting was very beautiful, the surroundings were very nice shot. The special effects were for a bollywood movie decent. I did not like the songs completely, because the voice of that girl was not nice. Well all in all, definitely worth watching. It deserves a 8/10

I don't like watching horror movies at all. Despite being a movie buff, this is one kind of movies which I always prefer to avoid. Still there is a horror movie which I like to watch again and again and which, quite unusually for me, I find very close to my heart. It's Raaz (2002).

Raaz (secret / mystery) is the story of Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) and Aditya (Dino Morea) who are facing problems in their marital life and move to Ooty for a break from the routine and set the conjugal troubles right. There Sanjana starts experiencing strange and frightening things and finally comes to know of the existence of a spirit (of a female) haunting their house there. One day the mystery behind the reason of the haunting of spirit gets revealed before her and the dark truth hidden in the life of her husband becomes naked before her eyes. However the final challenge appears when she finds the life of her husband under threat. How she is able to save him and her married life as well is the climax.

The theme of this movie is said to have been picked from the Hollywood movie - What Lies Beneath (2000). However I find it closer to an old Hindi movie - Mangalsutra (1981). In fact, we can trace the origin of this story back to the tale of Savitri embedded in the Hindu mythology who was able to get her deceased husband, Satyavaan from Yama, the god of death. The ultimate thing which matters is the treatment of the plot on the screen which is wonderful and the melodious songs are the icing on the cake. The story has been presented less like a horror movie and more like an edge-of-the-seat musical thriller which does not allow the viewer to leave it even for a second.

The movie has ample romantic moments. And I praise the director, Vikram Bhatt for the fact that the scenes of physical intimacy have been presented so artistically that not even a particle of vulgarity is felt while watching them. The melodious and touching romantic songs add to the flavour of the romance visible on the screen.

The movie runs on the theme of the traditional Indian wife's forgiving her husband for his past sings and standing by him in the adverse times (despite the resentment in her heart). The Indian ladies have always been taught to treat their husband as God. That's why I have compared this movie to the Satyavaan-Savitri Katha instead of the Hollywood movie.

Technically the movie is just superb. The special effects (especially in the climax) are highly admirable and the background score is perfect to render shivers to the audience.

Nadeem-Shravan alongwith Sameer, the lyricist have done an outstanding job by preparing unforgettable songs even in the 21st century. Not all the songs have been kept in the movie but listening to the album is a mesmerizing experience for any melody-lover. One song - Kitna Pyara Hai Ye Chehera is sung (and played on the harmonium) by me at times. It's based on Raag Bhairavi. However the best song of the album is - Aapke Pyar Mein Hum Sanwarne Lage. Most of the songs are in the voices of Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan and they have done full justice to the job of the lyricist and the composers by singing superbly.

This is the movie which lifted Bipasha Basu to stardom. Her performance deserves all the accolades showered on her. Dino Morea and Malini Sharma (she strangely disappeared from Bollywood after this movie) have also done well. Ashutosh Rana as the professor studying the supernatural has, once again, delivered a great performance. The supporting cast has done justice to the roles assigned.

Despite being a horror-movie-hater, I watched Raaz twice in the theatre and I don't mind watching it again on VCD / DVD. It's definitely the best horro-cum-suspense thriller made in India during the past two-three decades. If you like thrillers, I strongly recommend it to you.

Man, I really love those songs in Bollywood-films. But here, they don't work. "Raaz" is a Mystery-Thriller à la "What Lies Beneath" and I just didn't dig it that they would sing in between. But ... the song sequences take place in Switzerland so at least my local pride got soothed :)

The story delivers the goods. It's suspenseful, well told, even better photographed and OK acted. The two main stars make a splendid couple. Dino Morea has a

physique to die for and Bipasha Basu is beauty impersonated. Very nice to look at indeed. I was more annoyed by the Professor (Ashutosh Rana) however. In the

beginning, there is a scene where he rages against doctors completely unprovoked. His ethno-medeicine talks was not only a bore, it was also wrong in content. And why did he have to scream all the time?

But fortunately, he's not the main focus. One final thing: I'd have loved some juicy sex scenes. Here are two amazingly beautiful actors and they have a lot of love scenes together. But they don't even kiss. They just hold each other ... and talk. Or sing. Booooring. Why not spicing it up with some flesh? I know, I know, it's not some cheap Hollywood skin-pic, but then why tease at all?

Overall, a nice movie with minor flaws. But for the actors and the camera work alone, it's worth a look.

Rating 7/10

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.

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...