Horror has always been an intriguing genre worldwide and Bollywood is no exception. While the West regularly comes up with interesting spooky films, our cinema hasn’t been much successful in this regard. Few horror films are made and fewer work. Help works but unfortunately only in parts. The plot is brilliant but the execution and some loopholes in the narrative spoil the show!
The story of the movie: Vic (Bobby Deol) is a film director and married to Pia (Mugdha Godse). Their marriage in on the rocks as Pia doubts that Vic is allegedly having an affair with a Bollywood actress. At such a point, they have to rush to Mauritius as Pia’s father (Salim Fatehi) suffers a heart attack. Her father gets out of danger by the time they reach there. However, strange things start happening to Pia as soon as she is Mauritius, especially in her old family house. She realizes that the ghost of her twin sister, who accidentally died when she was 5, is watching her. In the midst, she finds that she’s pregnant. Before she can realize, the ghost possesses her and its upto Vic to take immediate action. What is the ghost’s motive and why has she awakened after so many years? Watch Help to find out!
Help has a spine-chilling beginning! The titles that follow were damn interesting too. However, the film then turns boring and very ordinary thereafter. The heroine wakes up in the middle of the night after hearing something, she exits her bedroom to check what’s going on, an eerie feeling engulfs, and then finally the ghost appears followed by a scream by the heroine! Haven’t we seen that sooooo many times before?! Unfortunately, this is what happens in the first hour of the film when the director gets building up the tension and mood. The only two sequences that work are-the merciless killing of the dog and entry of Aditya (Shreyas Talpade)!
However suddenly, the second hour makes an impact thanks to a wonderful twist in the tale. In fact, for some time, it takes the film to another level and that is when you’ll realize that this isn’t just another Bollywood horror-cum-revenge drama! A lot of surprises are in store here and the various symbolic gestures that were flashed at various points earlier begin to make sense!
The climax was alright and justified but the film leaves several questions unanswered. Why didn’t the ghost kill Pia’s father since he was the one who was responsible for the injustice done to her? Where was the video cassette, which provides vital clues to Vic, since so many years and why did no one see it before? Also, as mentioned before, the treatment was over the top at times and at places, fails to do justice to such an excellent plot.
The film ends with an indication of a possible sequel. Frankly it doesn’t work and spoils the film even more! And whenever any film has come up with such kind of a climax (13B, Phoonk 2, Drona etc), it has miserably failed. Help will follow suit too!
Every actor does a nice job but no performance was extra ordinary. Mugdha Godse looks charming and does a fine job especially in scenes wherein she’s possessed. Another fine performance from her after Fashion and Jail! It was great to see Bobby Deol after a long time and does a fine job. However, this new hairstyle doesn’t suit him and would like to see him in his Tango Charlie killer looks! Shreyas Talpade has a major role to play in the second half of the film and yet his act was termed as ’special appearance’! Nevertheless he was excellent especially in the finale. Jyoti Dogra leaves a mark while Salim Fatehi was okay. The twin girls, Anushka and Ashoi, play their part well. Sophie Handa and others were good.
Ashutosh Pathak’s music doesn’t impress but his background score does. Only one song is worth mentioning-Kehna Hai. Dhimant Vyas’ cinematography was very effective. Same for the Visual effects (Prime Focus)! Sound design was too loud, required for such films. Mugdha’s 1-minute-long scream in the finale was deafening! Special mention should also go to make-up guy, Vikram Gaikwad.
Deepak Pawar and Viddesh Malandkar’s wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues. Story initially seemed to be been-there-done-that types but impressed towards the later part of the film. Screenplay could have been better while dialogues were okay.
Rajeev Manoj Virani’s direction fails to do overall justice to the plot. Basically, a film like Help required the expertise of a veteran filmmaker (someone like Vikram Bhatt). Rajeev shows flashes of brilliance in some scenes but in the rest, he was plain okay. Hoping to see him doing a better job in his next flick!
Some of the best scenes:
The beginning scene
The flashback of the accident, shown at regular intervals
Dog is mercilessly murdered
Aditya confronts Vic at the graveyard
Aditya explains the various stages of demonic possession
Vic gets hold of the video cassette
The climax
On the whole, Help is equipped with an interesting and novel plot but fails to overall impress due to bad direction and some glitches in the narrative! No one can HELP the film to get audiences, impress them and turn the film into a commercial success!
My rating-** ½