Even I have 6 stories that would scare the pants off you.
~1~
As I was watching Darna Mana Hai suddenly Current Johar materialised beside me. He quivered, “My God!! I’m sure you like Sameera Reddy even though her make up is all wrong.” “No Current, I haven’t been noticing her make-up, of all the things to notice.” “Humph, all men are the same.” And as he said this Current became an apple
~2~
I chucked the apple under the seat I suddenly saw Sicki Garewal. “Hey Sicki Aunty, aren’t you supposed to click champagne glasses at the Lakme India Fashion Show right now?”
“Ooh tch tch, I finally wanted to see what the middle-class does to while away their vacant hours. By the way, muh deaah, Have you done your homework? Coz if you haven’t, your Sicki Aunty is going to be very angry. Hm hm!”
~3~
Sicki off, here came Ya-ya Gupta. “Babuji zara dheere! After the movie is over, care for some better entertainment, your place or mine? Your way or mine?” She pulled out a mirror to touch up her bloody lipstick I noticed that she wasn’t present in the mirror
~4~
Eee-shee Deol came running in fright, “I saw a ghost, I saw a ghost.” I deduced the silly girl must have simply seen a mirror and I had to say “STOP” so that she froze!
~5~
Eekstah Kapoor told me during the interval that she hates smokers. She was out to cure them by subjecting smokers to all her serials back to back so that they give up smoking and resort to snorting cocaine instead.
~6~
A-Joke Nath asked for a lift back home. He claimed to be a ghost. I was glad. Then said that it was only an MTV Bakra prank. I was infuriated.
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Does any of the above make any sense?? How Bizarre!! How Dumb!! How Utterly Pointless!! That’s exactly what Darna Mana Hai is. Yet engrossing too!
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6 stories. Some macabre. Others hopelessly hilarious but trying hard to be macabre. People disappear just like that. They can’t be seen in mirrors. Apples (I mean c’mon, apples???) are also mysterious. Loony hotel keepers have major issues about smoking. Unhinged teachers are uneasy about students doing homework, An MTV prank turns into a nightmare. Loser oafs suddenly acquire silly magical prowess.
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To while away time, theirs and ours, a bunch of college picnickers stranded in the middle of nowhere tell each other six scary stories. Of this bunch, pay attention only to the criminally sexy Ms. Sameera Reddy.
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Undoubtedly, the best story is the one featuring Nana Patekar and Vivek Oberoi. Followed by the one featuring Raghubir Yadav and Revathi.
Shilpa Shetty’s apple story is too infuriatingly dumb for words. Sanjay (aati nahi) Kapoor’s presence makes it dumber. I like the way he eats an apple at bed, trying to imitate Ashish Vidyarthi or something like that. I don’t want to talk about Aftab and his ‘STOP’ story at all.
Try hard as I may, I cannot recognize fully dressed Isha Koppikars and Antara Malis. Sushant Singh’s part pretty silly actually though he gives it his best.
Darna Mana Hai is worth watching for riveting performances by Raghuvir absolutely amazing Yadav, Nana Patekar, Boman Irani, Vivek Oberoi, and Revathi.
Technical highlights include tight editing (Amit Parmar), edgy background score, sound design (Salim-Sulaiman, Arun Nambiar) and outstanding cinematography (Vishal Sinha).
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An engrossing movie, but certainly not everyone cup of tea.
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I quite liked this movie, as I like to see the outputs of mavericks who toss established norms to the winds, swim against the tide and go against the grain. Their results may or may not be phenomenal but the spirit behind making such efforts is what attracts me.
The writer–director team have shown the ‘spheres’ to make such a movie that stands proudly erect among the crowd of limp and flaccid movies about wedding ceremonies, triangular love affairs, one-sided love, and snatching of other peoples’ fiancés. The plethora of such movies (for which I possess an amount of patience in a measure equal to the amount of sex-appeal found in Mayawati) that’s thrown on us audiences unendingly, make me lap up a fare like Darna Mana Hai with utmost glee.