Star Cast: -
Bipasha Basu
Sanjay Dutt
Sunil Shetty
Dino Morea
Neha Dhupia
Amrita Arora
Himanshu Malik
Abhishek Bachchan
Yana Gupta (Item Number)
I have always been a fan of supernatural and horror flicks! Although Indian supernatural movies still have a long way to go before they can match the Hollywood flicks of this category like Exorcist and The Ring, but still I never miss any Bollywood movie of this kind, as we don?t get much of this type! Just count the number of romantic, comedy, action & horror flicks released in a year and you?ll easily see that the paranormal movies constitute the lowest percentage of these.
This was one of the main reasons I went to watch Rakht other than the attractive star cast, which is on offer! Although the movie has its share of drawbacks but frankly speaking I wasn?t totally dissatisfied. I feel Mahesh Manjarekar deserves a pat on the back for having the balls to at least try something different from the league.
One can say it?s an experimental movie, which may not go too well with all kinds of audience (in fact most of the audience). But I have a soft corner in my heart for these different kinds of movies (one of the main reason I?m a big fan of Ram Gopal Verma), thus, you may not agree totally with my review if you find such movies absurd!
Bipasha Basu is a tarot card reader and also a widowed mother to an 8-year-old son. Sanjay Dutt is the principal of the school in which her son studies. He loves Bipasha but is unable to express his feelings. Amrita Arora is Sanjay?s fiancée and also a characterless lady for whom it isn?t a big deal to sleep around with different men.
Neha Dhupia is a troubled wife who gets treated like an animal by her cold-blooded husband Dino Morea. Himanshu Malik is a lawyer by profession and also one of those men (other than Dino) with whom Amrita satisfies her lust. Sunil Shetty is a mechanic with a forgettable childhood and also Bipasha?s friend. One fine day Amrita is missing! Then the real quest begins to find out where she has vanished!
The major drawback of the movie is the sluggish pace with which the story unfolds. Till about intermission you just can?t get what the story is all about! But yeah it doesn?t means you will be jaded. Despite the slow pace Rakht has the ability to keep the viewers interested. Especially the preliminary reels are terrific to say the least and hold lots of promise for an electrifying movie. Another snag with the movie is its climax.
One can still cope up with the slow pace but after a thrilling first half and some breath-taking moments of second half, I don?t feel it?s too much to expect a memorable finale! But the ending is anything but memorable. Writers have taken a convenient option and haven?t worked up their grey cells much in the conclusion.
Acting wise, Bipasha has stolen the show. The movie belongs to her and she is present in 90% of the scenes. She has tried to come out of her image of sex symbol and laid more emphasis on emoting and enacting her part sensibly.
Sunil Shetty is amazing. I think this man has come of age and proved yet again that he can do any role what so ever with an effortless ease! It was a pleasure to see him. Especially the scene in which he beats his own father and kills him sadistically is really going to take a ?toll? on you.
Dino Morea is yet another one who deserves an ovation. It?s a challenge to play a negative role and I must confess he has rose to the occasion and delivered a gem of a performance.
Amrita Arora has looked very hot and is now learning to act too (slowly but surely)!
Himanshu Malik is confident and competent.
Sanjay Dutt and Neha Dhupia are ordinary to say the least!
Abhishek Bachchan gets the whistles of the crowd in his short role. He was the only positive character in the whole flick! Others were either totally black or had shades of grey!
Music is melodious. Although the movie has just 3 songs but its album contains a few more. The pick of the songs without any doubt is ?One Love?. Other than this the effect background score has in creating an atmosphere of supernatural is worth mentioning.
Cinematography and the special effects are excellent! If you don?t want to watch Rakht for the story line I suggest you just watch it for the well picturised scenes and the extraordinary special effects.
To sum it up I?d recommend this movie only to those who dare to try something different and are ready to look beyond the negatives of this movie!