Everyone wonders why filmmakers like Ram Gopal Verma and Mahesh Bhatt have opened factories of filmmaking and have been churning out film after film without even bothering to check the likes and the dislikes of the audiences. These filmmakers also agree that they do not bother for unique and original stories and borrow from films that are being made abroad.
No one has ever questioned this trend of recycling the films in India. The question, however, remains why to increase the quantity, if there is the quality. The answer lies in ’Naina’, which has Urmila Matondkar working out of the Ram Gopal Verma camp and giving a superb performance in a film that is made by a new director.
Film factories are losing because their heads are not listening to the people. This one-way communication mars the spirit of creativity, and also kills the soul that is the basic necessity of any art. ’Naina’ says a lot just by its making. It has a heroine who is always ready to take on challenges.
But her mentor thinks otherwise. ’Naina’ is one step forward for Urmila Matondkar after ’Pinjar’ and ’Bhoot’. Now, she can move in any direction without the help of her mentor. She has a position that can command the roles of her choice. We have had many technically brilliant films but without a good story. ’Naina’ has both.
’Naina’ is the story of a woman who loses her eyesight in an accident. She is helpless to do any thing on her own. She has the energy, but not the channel to make it beneficial.
After several years, one day it is decided that she will get the light for her eyes courtesy an eye donor. She gets the cornea transplant done, but alas, her life turns worse. The problem arises when with the sight of the donor also come all those visuals that have been witnessed by the donor of the eyes.
The donor Khemi (Shweta Konnur) was a girl who had some supernatural powers and could see dead men walking all around her. At the very first, ’Naina’ is not able to understand as to what is happening because she cannot distinguish between the normal and the abnormal. But once she comes to know the fact, she wants to explore the reasons behind all this. Her doctor (Anuj Sahney) also fails to understand the real problem.
Did any one say, love is blind? The story progresses as a horror film and eventually culminates in a psycho thriller, a kind of narration not witnessed often in Hindi cinema. Urmila Matondkar as ’Naina’ also travels with her newly found ’power’ to unknown places to find out the truth.
Eventually, she comes across many revelations that are shocking as well as horrifying. Her travel includes dark bylanes of London to eerie daylights of Gujarat. ’Naina’ tries to cross over in terms of audience too, and tries it best to relate with masses as well classes.
As a product, ’Naina’ belongs to its director Shripal Morakhia. In Shripal, Bollywood gets a new director who is not only brilliant in technique but also sensitive enough to catch the emotions in a horror story.
He is a perfect blend of modernity and traditions. Shripal also showcases a truly new horizon to Indian filmmaking that started with Ram Gopal Verma’s films, but got lost somewhere in the middle.
Shripal also wins the race at the box office despite the heavy competition from veterans like the Bhatt camp’s ’Nazar’ and ’Star Wars’. His team is perfect for the job and does full justice to a tight screenplay by Sagar Padnya and Shripal Morakhia . The story cannot be cent percent original because it draws inspiration from western classics --- ’The Eye’ and ’Sixth Sense’.
Still ’Naina’ is a true horror film. Attempting a totally archetype film in debut making is not an easy task, but Shripal has proved it that he dares to be different for the best. ’Naina’ also boasts of some scenes with very good visual effects that look real in the final effect.
The credit for goes to the good work done by Parikshit Lalwani in sound department, C.K. Muralidharan and Jonathan Bloom’s camera and once again a perfect blend of background music by Salim Sulaiman.
If Urmila gets a handful of awards for her performance in this film, it will not be a surprise for those who have watched this film. She has been growing as an actress for the last few years, especially post-’Pinjar’. She proves that there was something in her that made films like ’Rangeela’ work.
She also proves that when it comes to portraying a character that is well drafted, she can give her best in each role of this type. ’Naina’ belongs to Urmila, and Urmila now to ’Naina’.
There are not many known names in this film except her’s. But the film gets good help from likes of Shweta, Amardeep and Sulbha Arya.
The film is a sure hit among fans of horror films. This will be liked by those who always look for something new.