Ek Thi Daayan

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.

Konkona Sen Sharma steals the limelight in this movie and every time she appears on-screen, I was taken aback. Emraan Hashmi is genuine as a troubled illusionist while Kalki is fine as a mystery girl. Huma Qureshi makes a perfect surprise while the two kids (of flashback in a wonderful non- linear play) do a marvelous work.

Ek Thi Daayan or ETD is a very innovative horror and a magnetic experiment in Bollywood which guarantees spine-chilling thrills with a story so sharp. But the vagueness imbibed into the plot, brandished by the screenplay plays spoilsport with it. The first half is amazing. But, the second half just makes it a bad movie to watch.

Too much of confusion towards the end leaves us to think who the actual daayan (witch) is which eventually leads to an utter disappointment as you leave the theater. The chills I was experiencing in the first half with the most frightening scene being related to ponytails, all couldn't compensate for the bizarre climax as I sat there bamboozled with my partner. Had the ending been more interesting with some extra elements and dope, I would have rated it a 10 on 10.

BOTTOM LINE: Kannan Iyer's debut is more of an upsetting piece than it is horrid. But, the chills, goosebumps are guaranteed and that is what I would recommend. This is a theater material but... only the first half. So I will suggest (as a critic) that you better wait for the DVD or DTH. Music is great and songs are relishing. 50-50 --> YOU MAY GO FOR IT OR NOT! (Look for that Vodafone/Loop offer in Fame/Cinemax Theaters resp.)

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Language: Mild | Sex, Nudity or Mouth-Kiss: Mediocre | Violence: Strong | Gore: Mild | Smoking, Alcohol or Drugs: Very Mild

Ek Thi Daayan (do keep in mind its NOT FOR WEAK HEARTED PEOPLE). Hats off to the makers for taking this step and making this movie. Vishal Bhardwaj n Ekta Kapoor U people rocked with this movie. Direction,Background Score,Editing,Cinematography,Acting almost everything meets your expectations. Emraan Hashmi Huma Qureshi Kalki Koechlin n last but not the least Konkana Sen Sharma this is certainly gonna be one landmark movie in your career.and Konkana has exceeded all the expectations. I am sure this movie will open doors to many more new ideas in Horror Genre for bollywood to explore. For all movie lovers DO GO AND WATCH THIS MOVIE IN YOUR NEAREST THEATRE. I also want to add:- like anyone else even i was afraid of lizards,but after watching this movie I might panic n faint next time i get to see one.

For an audience that has gotten used to spooky flicks that range from scary to sorcery, flying ghosts, witches, sudden shock element, etc., it is incredibly tough to come up with something new. This is especially true of Bollywood that has seen an overdose of Ram Gopal Verma flicks. Amidst all the gloom comes a refreshing 'Ek Thi Daayan' with a gripping story, although the climax goes tad haywire.

Magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) is a successful magician who suddenly is being troubled by strange visions. When hypnotized, it is revealed that he holds a dark secret to how his sister and father died and the story being the spooky elevator in the building where he lived as a child. The more he seems to dig into the past to unearth its antecedents, the deeper he gets into the mystic world. Not any more should be revealed about the story because it is a worthy suspense.

The first thing I did after watching 'Ek Thi Daayan' was to Google out the difference between a 'Chudail' and a 'Daayan'. As it turns out from a random web page, a 'Chudail' is an ugly demon that emerges when a woman dies during childbirth and lives in remote areas. A 'Daayan' is a beautiful enchantress that has become one on account of harassment during her lifetime and therefore attacks men and usually lives in urban areas. Whoa, who could ever guess that!!

Some of its songs are impressive. The best of those is 'Yaaram' that's performed at the housewarming hosted by Lisa, followed by the eerie 'Lautungi Main' but Punjabi flavored 'Totey Ud Gaye' sounds lame. A few more impressive numbers could have carried 'Ek Thi Daayan' even further.

The choice of locations is impressive. The opening scenes are filmed at Gurgaon's "Kingdom of Dreams" which stages an extravaganza of sound and light with impressive transitions, a must see for those visiting the region. The locations for the eerie home and the lift are neat too. The hypnotic background in the psychiatrist's office is an interesting piece of decor and serves as a backdrop to some key scenes.

Talking about acting performances, Emraan Hashmi does what is best at. It's amazing that despite such type-cast roles and similar performance in all films, his movies still work well at the Box Office. But, Konkona is the better actor in this film. Kalki and Huma Qureishi also do reasonably well.

The Verdict: Unfortunately, not much of the story can be discussed in a review without revealing a bit of the suspense. So, if you want to know what it is, it is better to catch it while it is still in the cinema halls. This is surely not a movie that you could wait till it comes on TV. Although one shouldn't watch it with exalted hopes, since it fizzles out towards the end, you wouldn't regret watching it at all.

When two diverse personalities such as Ekta Kapoor and Vishal Bhardwaj (along with Gulzar) join hands together to produce a horror film based on 'Witchcraft', then its got to be something out of the ordinary and special. Thankfully EK THI DAAYAN largely passes this expectations test as far as the novelty factor is concerned. Yet it falls short of being a thoroughly enjoyable entertainer due to an uninspiring finale, ruining the fine build up & suspense element continuing in its second half.

Beginning on a shaky note, the film soon starts delivering some well directed, stunning sequences once the flashback is there with two innocent kids portraying their characters superbly. The child actors particularly the boy, Vishesh Tiwari, keep you hooked on to the screen till the intermission and one feels like witnessing a fairly engaging tale with something new to offer, talking about witches & magic instead of ugly ghosts and cruel betrayals. Post interval the grown-ups take up from the innocent performers like a relay race and continue coming up with some fresh interesting insertions like Kalki. But sadly as it all starts heading towards the end, ETD fails to raise the bar further and finishes on the same familiar notes without making any kind of shocking impact on the viewer as seen in its first half.

In straight words, ETD is one of those films which both starts and ends on a sour note but surely has got the content which is much ahead then all those clichéd Vikram Bhatt horror films, repeatedly made for a certain section of viewers, quite regularly. In fact this is not a horror film in the typical sense but a fine script based on a 'Supernatural Theme' related with witches coming back after decades in a leap year to strengthen their individual powers. Therefore as its first merit, you have a new subject here in an Indian mainstream film which can easily be rated as one of the most original ones tried rarely in Hindi cinema till date. Incidentally one might recall MAKDEE, which was again a Vishal Bhardwaj (Children) film released in 2002 revolving around the myth spread among the villagers about a scary mansion. But since Vishal is the producer here in ETD too, so it clearly suggests that the talented soul does have a personal liking towards this unusual subject of witches for sure.

The second highlight of the film remains its performances wherein the 3 ladies score the most after the child actors. Konkona Sen Sharma excels in the first half and Huma Qureshi does the same in the second. Kalki Koechlin plays her short role well post interval and Emraan Hashmi is just fine playing the common male related to all the three. Though he doesn't get much scope to show his skills here, but his choice of scripts strongly indicates that he has now rightly understood the importance of new subjects very well. Supporting him, Rajatava Dutta as the doctor impresses andPavan Malhotra once again showcases his underrated talent playing the unaware father.

Music in a Vishal-Gulzar film has to live up to its reputation and that's exactly what can be said about the songs of ETD too. Though as usual the tracks are all forcibly inserted into the narration, still one enjoys watching "Kaali Kaali" (for the romance) and "Totey Ud Gaye" (for the dance) providing the casual relief moments. However "Yaaram", despite being good, hinders the pace of the movie, which could have been avoided. The DOP tries to maintain the mood of the film throughout, mixing the dark frames with the lighted ones. But in the process makes it mostly dark which becomes annoying at times. Background score deserves a special mention here for its innovative tones but the same words cannot be used for its special effects department, sadly.

In all ETD mainly impresses due to its inventive & original subject, adapted by the debutant director Kannan Iyer, who confidently proves that he has got the talent to deliver a perfect entertainer soon. The film steps on to the next level with its enjoyable performances & screenplay but could have been a real killer with a different culmination providing the missing shock. Its final moments did remind me of a scary masterpiece ROSEMAY'S BABY directed by Roman Polanski in the late sixties. And with a more imaginative climax it surely could have become an attempt to be the ROSEMARY's BABY of Indian Cinema, arguably.