Hisss

First of all let me clear the buzz of HISSS being a foreign flick. No, its not a Hollywood film from any angle. Yes, it's reportedly been directed by a western name, Jennifer Lynch. But the name remains the only foreign touch in an otherwise totally Indian movie, which is more like a B class Bollywood film packaged and promoted well.

Secondly, yes the film is based on a HIT and interesting topic of an Ichhadhari Nagin but the overall result on the screen is not even close to what we have already seen in Reena Roy's NAGIN (1976) and Sridevi's NAGINA (1986) or even in its not so successful sequel NIGAHEN (1989). The film is just a collage of various graphical scenes without any good story build up or enjoyable musical soundtrack. Moreover the erratic background score further reduces the impact of its engrossing theme to the least.

Thirdly, if you are expecting a great computer graphics show in the movie displaying a human body's transformation into and out of a snake, then you are going to get disappointed in that section of the film too. The graphics used in HISSS are not bad but at the same time they also don't offer anything great or exceptional to enjoy. In fact watching ANACONDA once again would be a far better choice to opt, if you are really interested in watching the big snake movements in front of you.

In the acting arena, I was simply stunned to see two highly talented actors Irrfan Khan and Divya Dutta agreeing to do such strange kind of roles where they simply have nothing to do except showing their known faces on the screen. Especially, Why Irrfan opted for such kind of LOW in his otherwise famous career is simply beyond any logical explanation.

So after pulling down the movie in almost all its departments……what can be a possible merit of watching HISSS? That's the pleasure of watching the Sky-High Confidence of the girl called Mallika Sherawat. The conviction with which she portrays her role of a Ichhadhari Nagin is indeed commendable even when she is not speaking a single dialogue in the film. And further her amazingly daring GUTS to opt for all those nude body scenes and love-making scene with the snake is undoubtedly applaudable.

Truly speaking, even when the movie was completely a wash out for me in all aspects, still the girl managed to keep me hooked somehow with her unbelievable kind of confidence and a passionate performance. So if you are really interested in watching Mallika in the most daring act of her entire career then HISSS may work for you. Otherwise it would be better to watch the movie only after its DVD release.

Rating : 1.5 / 5 (0.5 more only for the confidence level of Mallika).

I went into this with friends wanting a fun "so bad it's good experience" but it can't even be that. There were a few good effects early on that I actually enjoyed but the movie quickly becomes incredibly boring. It's overall too boring to be "so bad it's good" and too bad to be genuinely good. Id avoid this one and watch Clash of the Titans(81) for a more enjoyable snake woman. I'd love to go in depth scene to scene to pick out every problem but the thought of sitting through it again makes me sleepy. If you want to watch it definitely see it with friends since they'll be much more entertaining.

This movie has nothing worth spending 1 hours and 30 minutes on, in fact it got unbearable after 30 minutes. The plot is poor and is taken from old Naagin movie which is way better than this. Visual effects used are unrealistic and cinematography is amateur at best. All the actors except Irfhan Khan have performed poorly and overacted in most of the parts.

It seems film makers assumed Mallika Sherawat is so sexy that if present her half naked whole of the movie the public will lure into watching it. Its overstretched the movie story gets finished in 30 minutes and rest 1 hour in between are just fillers.

If you are a Mallika Sheawat fan and have one and a half hours to waste watch it, there is nothing else in the movie expect her which is worth watching.

The movie seems a joke coming from a director who has made Boxing Helena, this movie is even lower then the standards of combing Hollywood and Bollywood B-grade movies.

Just the name of Hollywood and the director is the daughter of David Lynch, If one doesn't expect master piece at least a decent effort, which it not even disappoints in every aspect of film making but make you puck. Its seems the director was asleep while making this crap which has awful special effects, no story, no acting and not even a single plus point that goes in its favor to be mentioned.Irfan Khan is totally wasted and why the hell did he agree to work in this joke of a movie, Mallika has no dialogs only partial nudity in dozens. The snake seems like a puppet and the rest I have no words to explain what a awful and crappy movie this is, avoid it no matter what or else regret it your whole life.

I was interested in checking out 2010's "Hisss" mainly because it's an East Indian horror production ("Bollywood") and I've never seen an Indian horror flick. The plot has to do with a Hindu snake god coming to life in the form of a beautiful Indian woman (Mallika Sherawat) and preying upon the dastardly inhabitants of the slum city. A detective tries to solve the case (Irrfan Khan).

As noted in my title blurb, this is a gruesome movie but it's not really scary, at least not to me. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have points of interest. The first act features a dynamic sequence at a painting festival on the streets and it's so energetic and creative that it possesses a "Wow" factor, sort of like the innovative dancing scenes in "The Day the Fish Came out" (1967). Later there's a cool chase thru the village (on foot) between the snake woman and a snake charmer with the detective tagging along. There are some other flashes of genius.

Of course Mallika Sherawat is a gorgeous woman, Indian or otherwise, and she's featured in numerous stages of dress or undress, but it's Maya Gupta, as the detective's wife, whose beauty truly shines here, and she's fully clothed at all times (what's that tell ya?).

The film was shot in various areas of India (West coast, East coast, South-Central, etc.) and is a visual feast of India in all its glory or disgrace. The movie's interesting in this regard.

Another highlight is the score & soundtrack. Take, for instance, the compelling and rockin' score during the foot chase.

I also thought the effects were pretty well done. For instance, when the snake woman morphs into a half-snake, half-woman monster at the end it brought to mind Lin Carter's Thongor comics from the early 70s.

Unfortunately, the story's not all that compelling despite the occasional bursts of brilliance. It's also too gruesome for my tastes -- loads of gore and worse -- albeit nothing I can't handle. Plus the detective's stepmother is really annoying (but maybe that's the point).

The film runs 98 minutes.

GRADE: B-