Warning- some plot spoilers inside!
Went in expecting some shivers and Naina sure didn’t disappoint.
Naina tells a story about being cursed with a gift (smells of Sixth sense, in fact the story is almost close to sixth sense) At the time of a solar eclipse in 1986(beautifully shot), a six year old Naina loses her eyes and parents in a car accident in London (again well shot, unlike the normal Hindi movie accidents).
At the same time an infant, born-dead from a Caesarean, opens her eyes and comes back to life.
Nineteen years later, the blind Naina recovers her eyesight after a cornea transplant, and suddenly sees dead people walking around in the hospital. IT takes her some time to understand that she is able to predict death to people, as she sees black shadows before a death happens. She also starts seeing dead people (According to the theme of the story, their souls undergo the same pain of death, over and over again, because for most souls, there would have been a strong wish, which was unfulfilled. These wishes keep them bound to the mortal world, and ever since her cornea transplantation, Naina started seeing those souls dying over and over again!)
The biggest shock to Naina comes when realizes that she is seeing her reflection in the mirror as someone else- this she gets to know when she sees her photo- and comes the interval. Could hear nervous laughter and loud sighs all around me in the theatre, as people were recovering from the non stop ghost sequences.
Second half becomes more predictable, as Naina goes in search of the girl who donated the eyes, and the chase takes them to bhuj (It is anyone’s guess that the girl who donated the eyes, was the infant who was born dead and then resurrected).
When she finally traces the girl Khemi, she gets to know that Khemi also had the gift of seeing death and the dead (again, this part is also clear to us before we see it in the screen). By the time Naina sorts out the agony of Khemi’s wandering soul, we think the story is over... But Naina, to her horror discovers that Khemi’s eyes still show her portents of death and catastrophes, and then the climax (watch the movie for it, I dont want to spoil the plot)
Urmila is excellent as Naina, but signs of age are creeping up. She no longer looks the ’Tanha tanha’ girl. But even better performances were given by Shweta Konnur who played ’Khemi’, and the lady playing ’Soma bai’. Anuj Sawhney is handsome and cuddly, but hasn’t much to do. Naina’s grandma, Kamini Khanna is the only actress who stick out of the whole character list like a sore thumb - she was really artificial.
Special effects- Much better, given the bollywood standards. Especially the under water sequences.
Background music - I wont say it is bad, but it is Bugging. It keeps on telling you something bad is coming to you around the corner....
Over all - Watchable. Reasonable audience, who go for enjoyment and not for critical reasoning can come out of the theatre happy