Some of the reviewers have rightly written that the name Vaastu Shastra is not a proper title of this film. After seeing this film, I think the title of this film should have been Pipal Ke Ped Ke Bhoot.We have all since childhood heard that ghosts prefer to live on Pipal ka ped ( pipal tree ).Vaastu Shastra just takes this belief too far.
Briefly put, the story is that Virag (Chekravarthy) and Jhimil (Sushmita Sen) make a haunted house their dream home.Jhilmil who is a doctor is ecstatic about the fact that the house has perfect vaastu.However, they fail to notice the Pipal tree near the house which is the residence of ghosts.Well they move into their dream home with their son Rohan (Ehsaas Channa) and Jhilimil’s younger sister Radhika or Rads (Peeya Rai Chaudhry).
A few days after living in the house Rohan starts seeing two other kids Manish and Jyoti.The parents think that since he is alone in the big house he cannot handle the loneliness and he is imagining things.They appoint a maidservant Rukhma (Rasika Joshi) to look after Rohan.The maidservant is killed by the ghosts.
Till now Rohan was seeing only the two children but now he sees adult ghosts whom he calls bad uncle and bad aunty.The bad uncle and bad aunty kill Radhika and her boyfriend Murli ( Purab Kohli ).There is a madman (Rajpal Yadav) who is always warning Jhilmil about the ghosts in her house.After Radhika’s death, Jhilmil listens to the madman but when she returns home she finds Virag is also killed by the ghosts.The film has an open ending and I would not like to discuss it here.
The merits of the film are the performances by all the actors.Chekravarthy is good as Virag.Sushmita Sen does well except for some emoting scenes.Sushmita Sen looks beautiful even in the scenes where she uses little make up.Peeya Rai Chaudhry looks charming. Performance of the child artist Ehsaas Channa deserves a special mention.
In the supporting cast, Rasika Joshi as Rukhma , the maid servant performs excellently.Purab Kohli as Murli is ok.The scene where Murli comes to see Radhika at her house when she is alone evokes laughter even though it is intended to be a romantic scene.Sayaji Shinde as Inspector Ghorpade and Rajpal Yadav as the madman do not have much to do in the film.
Technically, the film is good.Cinematography is fine.Lighting effects deserve a special mention and most of the scenes are shot in diffused and dim lights to enhance the scary effect.Background music could have been effective had it been more varied.Screenplay is tight and the film does not drag.Direction by SUN (Sanjay Usha Narang) is fair considering this is his first film.
As far as shortcomings of the film are concerned, the film doesnt scare you as much as is publicized by the film makers.The make up of artists who play the ghosts is not very well done.It seems that excess of talcum powder or flour has been rubbed on their faces.Also some the the scary situations have been used in the horror films before.Like running of ghosts hair through heroine’s hair was used in Raaz.
The music which is supposed to scare becomes repetitive.There are three tunes as far as background music is concerned.First one is like a stifled roar of a wild animal.The second one is that of bees or flies buzzing around and third one is that of a child laughing a wicked laughter.Once you get accustomed to hearing these tunes, they do not scare you.Instead the film makers could have used a combination of silence and eerie background music as they did in Bhoot.
There is another anomaly in the film.Towards the end, when the Pipal tree is burned down all the ghosts perish.Yet when in the morning when Rajpal Yadav pees on the burnt tree the hand of a ghost catches him.This is a bit unconvincing.
Finally, the title of the film.The film has nothing to do with Vaastu Shastra and it could have well been given any other title.
In some of the earlier reviews some members have raised some queries in their reviews about certain incidents of the film. Here I try to answer their queries
1.) Why do Ghosts haunt the house ?
According to the madman, a family living in that house earlier was under debts and hence all the members of that house committed suicide.The ghosts who haunt that house belong to that family.
2.) Where does Murli go in midst of lovemaking scene with Radhika ?
Well Murli’s ghost is shown with those of the others at the end of the film.Hence it is to be supposed that Murli was killed by ghosts while in midst of lovemaking.
Vaastu Shastra does succeed in scaring you a bit, but if you are of the kind who watches horror movies regularly, Vaastu Shastra will not have much effect on you.
Recommended for one viewing.