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.

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.

"..and the chivalrous prince dives down to the bed of the ocean to find the blue fish with a burning red eye.After battling with sharks he could reach to the infamous fish and split its belly with his rugged sword.Thus the deadly power of the monster stored in the fish's belly comes to an exhilarating end.."–As a child we often heard such folklore from our grandparents.With rich heritage of folklore & myths,I used to wonder why Hindi cinema don't explore those terrains while our foreign counterparts have given a whole new dimension to the werewolves and vampires straight out of the folklore of the west.Without broadening the horizon the bollywood film-makers played safe by doing monotonous horror films repeating similar structure(& often stories).Here comes a film that breaks the predefined norms.

Based on a short story by literary laureate Mukul Sharma(Happens to be Konkona's father),talented Vishal Bhardwaj adapts that for a full length film.ETD is a folklore set in urban Indian city.The story is about a famous magician Bobo who is disturbed by his dark,unexplainable,transcendental childhood memories which haunts him often.At a tender age of 11 he read a book on devils & daayans(Witches) which explored the age-old believes on daayans such as the power lies trapped in their "choti"(long braided hair),they need to sacrifice a human child to regain their strength etc. Imbibing those believes the adventurous young mind comes to the conclusion that every building has its own hell & the by pressing "666"(code to hell) the lift will take you there.Nurturing such believes he & his sister meets their new governess Diana whom they presumed to be a witch and has come from the hell of their building.Gradually few uncanny incidences followed by the death of his sister and father further strengthens his believes. Even years after these incidents, images of the past haunts him as he lives in dilemma about the existence of such occult forces.

Debutant director Kannan Iyer got ample support from producer Vishal Bhardwaj as was evident from the dark frames used,which are trademark of Vishal.The film opens with shadowy blue & black frames with Rekha Bhardwaj rendering her voice to the infesting, creepy "Lautungi Mein" which sets the mood of the film.Bhardwaj's screenplay is taut & we are straight away introduced to Bobo's problems in life.With Bobo being hypnotized back to his childhood the audience is in for some creepy ride.With sharp editing by veteran ShreekarPrasad & tilted camera angles by SaurabhGoswami (few long shot to substantiate the lonely creepy feel) did the trick.ClintonCerejo's background score set the atmosphere perfectly.Kudos to Iyer for the extra effort he invested in setting each & every props at Bobo's place and psychiatrist Dr RanjanPalit's chamber. It is one of the rare Hindi films that doesn't use any gimmicks to scare but resorts to characterization & atmosphere to bring out the spooky element which lingers long after the film gets over.The film keeps a realistic feel even within its surreal limitations.The dialogs add in to the proceedings with age-old myths seamlessly getting merged into urban existence. Bhardwaj-Gulzar combo again succeeds in bringing a winning track which complements the narrative."Lautungi Mein" reminds the yesteryears songs from Mahal,Gumnam & with semi-classical tone evokes a earthy horror feeling."Yaaram" is a brilliant composition & these proceedings following the song sequence accelerates the speed towards the somewhat bizarre climax.

Till the climax I was mumbling to myself that ETD is indeed a classic but then cliché final confrontation reminded me of those run-of-the-mills Vikram Bhatt films which made me ponder what would have forced Kannan Iyer to cater to the gallery at the penultimate sequence.The good-versus-evil finale looked misfit in otherwise smart film.Also the big twist at the end could have been foreseen in the first half itself.

Iyer had the opportunity to work with the finest talents in Bollywood & it paid-off successfully.The actresses in the film had made a striking impression especially Konkona(Diana).The role offered her was something which is diametrically opposite to what she had been doing till now & she did complete justice to it.The role will be long talked about in years to come.Huma Qureshi showed her potential with GOW, LSTCK and she continues to impress in this film too.With perfect blend of good looks & talents she will be the one to watch out for in near future.Kalki Koechlin is always dependent & there is no aberration here.Being introduced post-interval her character breaks the monotony of the narrative & brought in fresh angles to the quest to find the 'original' witch.It is heartening to see talented veteran actor Pawan Malhotra, in a meaty role of Emraan's geeky professor father.He exudes the right emotions making the character expressive.Rajatava Datta(a fine actor & a big name in Bengali cinema)excels as Dr Palit,the psychiatrist,who is suppose to act most rational,seems confused about his believes in myths of witches & is as eager to learn the truth.Visshesh Tiwari is marvelous as young Bobo.His histrionics were flawless-an excellent actor in the making.The child actress who played bebo's sister had the charm and innocence to hook the audience to the screen. .And the leading man Emraan Hashmi who has been criticized by critics for his choice of roles till he bounced back with "Dirty Picture",'Shanghai","Ek th daayan" (& now upcoming "Ghanchakkar").In each of the films he explored varied characters & wooed us with his acting abilities.As psychologically disturbed Bobo with a haunting puzzling past Emraan grasped the nuances of the character & delivered a top-notch performance.

ETD is a great attempt in Hindi celluloid albeit a mediocre climax.The entire team should be applauded for the effort to concatenate ancient myths with modern existence & deliver a hardcore entertaining creepy horror film.Good to see concepts like folklore,zombies are explored thus giving us break from the bland taste of formula based Hindi movies.

P.S:For all horror lovers do watch the 2012 Tamil film "Pizza" which is a landmark in this genre for its execution & novelty.

Amidst all the Himmatwalas and the Chashme Baddoors there comes Ek Thi Daayan.It's not a movie, it's a breath of fresh air which proves that we don't need any remake to make a good cinema,we just need a storyteller who has the guts to keep the audience at the edge of their seats even if the story is totally based on fantasies of churails and daayans and we see none other than Vishal Bhardwaj doing that.This man can deliver more when he has provided the story and also has proved so in Ishqiya and now in ETD.Don't know what is with him and the churails,first Makdee and now ETD.

Having said those things I would clearly say Ek Thi Daayan is not a classic but it has its elements.If I had the power I would say,yes first half is a classic but the same cannot be said about the second half in which the climax is also somewhat not pleasing.This 'second half curse' is biting every movie nowadays.

Emaraan Haashmi(BOBO) is good,Huma Qureshi is just OK,she is lost of expression when mostly needed.Kalki is decent enough in her extended cameo.But the one who delivers a stellar is Konkona Sen Sharma and also the younger version of BOBO.Konkona is damn good when she is present on the screen.Watch out for her eyes when she first appears in the movie where she is standing in a lift.I just wonder where she was in the past years.That child artist is also pretty impressive in the movie.

The direction,cinematography,screenplay,background score,you name it,everything stands tall at the end of it.You wouldn't be able to say that there were some portions which needed some more work to be done on,apart from the screenplay of the second half.It,s just that after the pre climax the movie loses it's pace.

But nonetheless when you would leave the theatre you would say 'I watched something totally different,something out of the box.It also has the best spine chilling moments for which I'd recommend you that if you are going to watch this one GO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I'm going with 3.5 stars for Ek Thi Daayan.A sequel would be highly appreciated.Do not miss this one,I repeat do not miss this one if HORROR and something new is your cup of tea.

Ek thi Daayan gives a very fresh perspective to horror films .It is is an enriching combination of good story telling and ethnic grandmother's witch tales.

Awesome acting by Konkona Sen Sharma and Emraan Hashmi. Other actors have also played their character up-to the mark.

Whats's Good: Acting and storytelling, unfamiliar track for a horror thriller, good background score.

What's Bad: A little disappointment towards the conclusion part of the story.

Overall one time worth watch, but don't hope for a classic