“Some say the glass is half empty, some say the glass is half full, I say, are you going to drink that?” It doesn’t take one much time to agree with Lisa Claymen on this count. Take the Indian celluloid for example. There are movies that may be called good for a 100 reasons and flushed down the pipe for another 100 reasons. But there are also a few, the ones with cine-marquee value of a rare variety, which sprouts straight a plain question, “Would you really wanna go for this one?” Sssshhh falls in this category.
HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL?
Now to answer the question as to why I went for this one, I assumed that the half empty glass was inviting me to gulp down the rich blend of whisky contained in the other half. I generally look forward to serving my eyes the savory sight of gustatory delights, not from a bakery, but from the horror n thriller genre exhibits of the Indian filmmakers.
DON’T TELL ME THERE’S A STORY TO THIS MOVIE?
Of course, there is. If your ears are itching for the story then here it is… Malini (Simone Singh) is playing squash with the finesse of an amateur badminton player when her boyfriend (who tries portraying his manly bravado by spitting out insipid wise cracks to scare her) is killed. His body pours out blood worth a few gallons. Who next but her? And the killer is a black dressed man (Can’t film wallas use pink or green for a change?) with the mask of a clown (Tickle yourself if the mask doesn’t make you laugh).
Enter Mahek (Tanisha) who’s been receiving threatening calls from the killer. He wants to slash her to death like he did to her sister Malini. Mahek is a college going girl who stays in a huge house. Though the house looks like a museum but its still a house. There is a mini-furniture showroom and a crockery store within the house as also the n number of chandeliers. See it to believe it. So much for art direction. Now meet her college pals- Rocky (Dino Morea), Gehna (Suvarna Jha), Rajat (Gaurav Kapoor), Nikhil (Kushal Punjabi) and Riya (Teena Chaudhary). The ruthless killing of her sister keeps weighing heavily on Mahek’s mind, time and again. And now the mask-waala has been repeatedly calling her. What are friends for? Friends want to give her something to cheer about. But to no avail.
Enter the spice of the heroine’s life, Suraj (Karan Nath). Rocky gets a big J. Mahek slowly is reciprocating to Suraj’s love for her. Rocky gets another left hook of a J. Rajat is his advisor-cum- jale pe namak chidakne wala. Suraj’s dead pop has left him a legacy of letters, which he keeps drooling on. Sssshhh… A college teacher is killed by ‘you know who’. Scare all around. Fear all around. Step in Inspector Kamat (Shivaji Satam) with a long jacket normally worn in Seattle, accompanied by his deputy Sub-Inspector Rathore (Aly Khan) with a bacteria-infected French beard. On another night, when her mother is away, the clown attacks her but she manages to escape. Mahek is scared, depressed and can’t get over the gruesome happenings all around. The gang of friends decides to go on a holiday and off they fly to Thailand. Back home Mahek’s mom is killed by the ……clown, of course.
Deserted on an island (don’t ask me how), the killings continue. Suspicions galore! Kamat and Rathore rush to Thailand to hunt for the kiddos…. reach the island. The rest is a boring account of the revelation of suspense and the masked killer.
WHY DON’T MEN STUDY?
College going kids, did you say? But none of them attend lectures or are found studying except for a casual mention to a certain psychology class and test and a few junior artists flipping over magazines at the college library. Setting characters against the backdrop of a story is a very important aspect of making a movie. Infact it is “the” element that lets you characterize better and not doing this is what brings in some unrealism to Sssshhh.
Dino Morea is not too impressive in this one. Infact I think he goes overboard. Karan Nath is ok but does not depict confidence at all. Gaurav Kapoor is bad at comedy (I suppose that is what they hired him for). Kushal Punjabi doesn’t fit into the character but do watch out for his behemothic and protruding teeth. Shivaji Satam and Aly Khan are confined to limited roles.
Pavan Kaul’s direction is completely ordinary. You can see a lot of bad planning in execution of many a scene. Take the scene for example wherein Kamat and Rathore are hunting for Mahek, with her picture in their hand. They keep asking every T, D & H whether they have seen the girl in the picture. They speak in English but with a Thai (some chinki) accent. Where the film topples a hundred steps is the screenplay (Arshad Syed). Remember, a thriller demands a well-worked screenplay.
And the only two men who did study are…
Hiro Keswani (Cinematography). He is brilliant with the use of the camera in stills as well as elevated captures as also with the illumination effects in enclosures like the house, the college women’s room. Watch out for the picturisation of the beach.
Salim Suleiman for his background score. He is the same guy who jolted you in Bhoot. Though he needs to avoid getting repetitive. If you notice and listen carefully, he has used the spine-chilling rocker from Bhoot (when Manjeet is introduced for the first time) repeatedly in Sssshhh. Nevertheless, he does come up with some shriek-inducing punches.
WHY CAN’T WOMEN STOP SHOUTING?
Agreed there are a few straight lifts from “Scream”, but can’t these guys add a teaspoon of innovation to it. All the women in the movie are incessantly found shrieking and shouting all throughout. The inability to act and deliver dialogues with panache is substituted for by crying, screaming, howling, screeching and hollering.
Tanisha, according to me really needs some training. She for one just cannot act. Her voice does have traces of Kajol’s vocal chord but its bonkers when it comes to delivery. But she does a few things well. Did I mention about her howling, screaming? ……Huh! The scantily dressed Suvarna Jha stands second to her when it comes to taking off at the top of her voice. Teena Chaudhary manages a distant third position with marked inefficiency.
ANYTHING IN THE GLASS?
Yeah, there are a couple of moments that you do appreciate amongst the un-studious men and shouting women brigade. The murders have been well picturised and presented. You do get jolted at every slash. The scenic picturisation all throughout the movie is a welcome treat. To a certain extent, the suspense is well preserved and you keep rattling calculations in your mind.
So finally what you get to gulp from the half full glass is not worth the rare blend of “daaru” that I mentioned earlier. But then, like I also said, “To see or not to see, that is the question”.
© Milind Gadagkar 2003