What is it about horror films that have lost their touch? Is the question that popped into my head after watching Ram Gopal Varma’s latest horror presentation Darna Zaroori Hai.
Being a generation that has grown up on getting goose bumps watching sleazy Ramsay horror films, it was a great pleasure to have a director like Ram Gopal Varma give us films like Raat and Bhoot that had some pretty scary moments.
Then of course came the hilarious Vaastu Shasta (I say hilarious for the climax of the film - you should watch it for some good laughs too) and then the much talked about Darna Mana Hai and which is now followed with Darna Zaroori Hai.
Darna Zaroori Hai is a better version of Darna Mana Hai but it is still not scary enough. The main difference being is the fact that in all the stories the characters get completely spooked and the stories if happened to you in real life would be horror-stricken!
But somehow that does not seem to translate on screen.
I guess the point that Ram Gopal Varma is missing in this is that you cannot take pauses when you trying to scare people it has to be one continuous process. Raat for instance I remember had a fright sequence and then things would come down to a normal pace and again something would happen that would make you jump off your seat.
With six short stories culminated into one it kind of breaks the momentum. Perhaps that is why the only story that really holds good is the Arjun Rampal one. Written and directed by Prawal Raman it does get predictable by the end but it has a nice tempo to it.
The worst story of the lot would have to be the opening directed by Sajid Khan.
The title sequence of the film is another boring and badly done edit job that is completely unwanted as part of the film.
Also the story that lacks any real emotion is the one directed by the maker himself - Ram Gopal Varma. The story that stars Amitabh Bachchan and Ritiesh Deshmukh is convincing only to the extent of the horror seen on Mr Bachchan’s face - beyond that there is no build up.
Also the Suniel Shetty story is the least scariest.
I think this series should have been rethought and presented as a chain of thrillers or murder mysteries (because someone has to die in the end of each story).
A large part of the audience would maybe feel a pinch with dramatic sound effects but beyond that if you could hear anything was sounds of boredom and popcorn being chewed.
Performance-wise the surprise packages in the film are definitely Arjun Rampal ( who rocks!!), Mallika Sherawat and of course Randeep Hooda.
Darna Zaroori Hai to dekhna bilkul zaroori nahin hai, is what I have to say.