Hello friends. I am back with the review of the spanking new release of the week ? Rakht. Produced by liquor baron ?Dr Vijay Mallaya?, it?s something of a whodunit / thriller with major spooks in store.
At the centre (actually the centre, left, right, top and bottom) is Drishti (Bipasha Basu). Widow, single-mom and clairvoyant. She has these powers ? she gets these visions from time to time and can see things that are going to happen in the future. Since the death of her husband ? which she foresaw but was unable to prevent ? she has been making a living as a tarot card reader cum psychic. And doing pretty well by the looks of it!! Her powers have also made her somewhat of a recluse and the target of some of the townsfolk?s taunts.
She has a friend in Tanya (Payal Rohatgi) ? another divorced, single mom. I was sure that this one was going to be one of the casualties in the movie ? after all what else would a semi-dressed, apparently superfluous female be used for in a horror movie. But I was wrong, her very presence in the movie was a big mystery.
Then there is Rahul (Sanjay Dutt), the principal (???) of the school where Drishti?s son studies. He makes it crystal clear that he is carrying a big-time candle for our heroine, by giving her all these huge puppy-dog looks whenever she is around. He is also called a ?honhaar naujawan? in a scene. Hell.. if Sanju Baba is a ?naujawan?, then I wonder what I am. He is also the reluctant fiancé to Natasha (Amrita Arora), big time town hussy. She is carrying on with half a dozen other guys while being engaged to the aforementioned youth. She is the daughter of the town?s mayor who is also Rahul?s political mentor.
Then there is chota-mota garage owner Mohit (Sunil Shetty). He has some major psychological problems ? what with his being physically abused by his stepdad since a very young age. He is just a nutcase waiting to go over the top. And he is also Drishti?s friend cum mechanic.
To round them all up, there is Rhea (Neha). She is one of Drishti?s clients. Abused again and again by her hot-head of a husband Sunny (Dino Morea), she comes to Drishti for help; but does not accept her advice to leave the lout. Sunny, in turn, has his own axe to grind against Drishti. He feels that she is instigating his wife against him and threatens her with physical danger again and again.
Things come to a head when Natasha disappears. Following another one of Drishti?s visions, her body is found ? all bruised and wrapped up in chains - in a pond in Sunny?s property. And then Sunny is booked for her murder. Well, cannot give away anything more , my dear friends. Just call up and book your tickets, it is full paisa-vasool!!!!!
Director Mahesh Manjrekar, has come up with one decent whodunit. One just has to set aside ones reservations about Drishti?s powers and their timing and what we have is one major trip. He keeps the tension up at a high level and does not let go at all. Lots of red herrings, lots of scary-jumpy sound effects. The only grouse is the climax, where the identity of the killer is exposed and there is the inevitable denouement. That is where I felt let down badly ? like the director just wanted to wrap things up and did not care to spook us any more.
And the music ? the lesser said, the better. The songs are all avoidable and only serve to bog the movie down at all the tense moments. Even the much hyped, ?Oh what a babe? featuring the delectable Yana Gupta and ?One love? with the Abhishek Bachachan are no big deals.
As it is, the movie is decent sized ? around 2.5 hrs. With no songs, it would have been a great taut 2 hours. I thought song less thrillers were the newest Bollywood idea!!! LOL..
No onto the performances. Bipasha ? this is as good as it gets for her. She is there in every scene of the movie ? even gets to prance with Abhishek wearing denim hot pants!!!! She has, what in filmi parlance is called, an author-backed role. And she makes the most of it. She is not a great actress at all ? rather she has a very limited range and her stock of expressions for different emotions is pretty limited. But she manages to get through by sheer screen presence. Good job, could have been much much better in the hands of a better actress.
Compared to her, there is no one who has much of a scope for any performance. Sanjay Dutt is OK. Amrita Arora - dropping her clothes at an alarming rate ? is OK as the fickle Natasha. Neha Dhupia is there barely for a few scenes. Sunil Shetty and Dino Morea ? both play different versions of crackpot, psycho. Their confrontation scene gives rise to the question ? who is the bigger ham?????? Then there are the under-utilized supporting characters ? Himanshu Malik, Rajat Bedi, Sharat Saxena etc.
All in all, Rakht is a pretty decent entertainer. It thrills and spooks and scares us in all the right measures and for that Mahesh Manjrekar deserves all the kudos. But then, of course, could have been much better is still applicable. Still I have no problems in rating it a good 3.5 / 5. Go for it.