Movie Review: Bhoot

I usually avoid watching Hindi movies like I avoid the plague. Unlike the other members of my immediate family, Hindi movies do not hold the same appeal to me as it does to them. I abhor the trite storylines, the unnecessary jump into elaborate song and dance routines and of course comedic moments that are out of place inherent in the Hindi movie genre. For most of the few that I’ve sat through with grinding teeth, I find Bollywood productions too superficial and predictable to make the experience of watching them anything near to satisfying. So when a friend recommended a Hindi movie for me to watch, I took his recommendation with much trepidation. When he told me that there isn’t any stupid song and dance routine in the entire movie, my reluctance changed to intrigue as this is the first time I have heard of a Hindi movie devoid of the customary production conventions. I finally relented and decide to give this movie a try.

The movie that was recommended to me was “Bhoot” which translates to “Ghost” in Hindi. The movie tells the story of a young couple who rents an abandoned apartment whose previous tenant was thought to have committed suicide in the house. The young housewife gradually becomes the focus of the strange phenomenon that soon enough she begins to doubt her own sanity. She begins to see visions involving the previous tenant and her child as well as periods of unexplained sleepwalking. Her gradual decent to madness was further complicated by a murder in the apartment complex that was seemly attributed to her. As the police began investigating the murder, the husband began to realize that something or someone is influencing his wife and in fact has begun to take possession of her body. This realization spurred the husband to find outside help to heal his wife by first consulting a psychiatrist and then later a clairvoyant to exorcise the ghost possessing his wife. In the race to free his wife, several facts about the previous tenant was uncovered and it was discovered that it was her ghost who has come back to take revenge on the person who actually murdered her and her child. This sets up the climax that resolved all loose threads which finally allows the ghost to move on in peace and the young couple to continue with their lives.

As a Hindi movie, “Bhoot” is an admirable departure from the overused tried and tested formula of movie making that they continue to churn out of the Bollywood production lines. As promised, there wasn’t any song and dance routine to disrupt the mood of the movie which is good seeing that this movie is suppose to be a horror movie that could hardly be helped by scenes of people frolicking on the meadows, jumping out of bushes and breaking into any catchy tune. As the director of this movie, Ramgopal Verma wisely chooses to defy Hindi movies conventions and make one that is eerily westernized in terms of structure. Some have called this movie a breath of fresh air in the increasingly stale Bollywood movie industry and I have to agree with them wholeheartedly as I have not seen anything like it before. This leap of brilliance can bee seen as proof positive what Hindi movie directors could do if they would just stay away from the customary route that they have always taken in their movie productions.

I have to point out that as a horror movie, the cinematographic language used by Vishal Sinha as the primary cinematographer is deserving of high praise. Within the confines of the camera lens, he has crafted shots that accentuate the mood and atmosphere of the movie. His brilliant combination of low camera angles, shiver inducing dark interiors and intense close-ups unfailingly suggest the increasingly desperate and claustrophobic circumstances that the movie’s main protagonists were going through. Coupled with the moody scoring produced by Salim-Suleiman, this potent combination effectively coveys the mood that something unearthly is watching them as well as most probably watching us in the audience. The underlying score is effectively subtle at some places that if the audience listened closely to them, they could pickup that it was made up of human moans and screams. Unfortunately, while this is a really effective method to raise the hair on the back of the neck, this is not something I have not seen before. In fact, this sound arrangement was the backbone to the soundtrack to M. Night Shyamalan’s “Sixth Sense”. Nevertheless, the choice to score the movie in this particular way was a welcomed respite from the unnecessary sappy Hindi songs.

The influence from “Sixth Sense” was not the only one apparent in “Bhoot”. Horror movie buffs would actually have a field day picking up references from movies like “Child’s Play”, “Dark Waters”, “Poltergeist” and of course from the ultimate horror movie reference tome, “The Exorcists”. Whether intended or not, these references were too evident and well known that it is hard not to think of their use here as a bit cliché and tired. The movie itself also moves along in a plodding pace that was heavily bogged down by drawn out expositions and superfluous scenes that seemed to be tacked on to increase the screening time. I especially had problems with the scenes showing the husband’s daily routine of going to work being repeated several times in the course of the movie as it not only adds nothing to the story but what is more important takes the action away from the house which should be the focus of the story. In his over eagerness to set each scene, the director seems to loosen the tight reins that would make this movie much better. By the time the movie reaches mid point in the story, I guess that other audience like me would be asking if this movie would ever get to the crux of the action.

Several red herrings were thrown to the audience in the course of the movie to provide sufficient twists and turns in the story. Unfortunately, I found that the red herrings are more satisfying if they were developed as the climax of the movie that the actual ending that they decided on. My main complaint about the third act of the movie was that there were too many new characters introduced into the story with only a slight semblance of backstory to flesh them out. These characters if were handled properly would have enriched the story much more if they were set in motion from the very first act. The decision of allowing a character introduced this late in the game to play a major part in the film’s climax is nothing short of criminal. The audience has not had enough time to sufficiently invest in the latter characters and this made for a weak ending that left me thinking what were the director and screenplay writer thinking when they map out the ending.

Regardless of the plodding pace and the slipshod ending, credit must be given to the primary actors who made the best of the material given to them and yet managed to produce sterling performances. If for nothing else, “Bhoot” was watchable by virtue of the outstanding performance of Urmila Matondkar who played the part of the young wife, Swati. Her breakthrough acting run the gamut of fits of emotions and different moods that successfully conveyed the character’s descent into madness and possession which was chilling to watch to say the least. The husband, Vishal, as played by Ajay Devgan also produced a wonderful performance as a husband gradually horrified by the changes happening to his beloved wife despite the weak material he had to work with. Another memorable character for the movie for me was the clairvoyant played by the popular Hindi actress Rekha. In the short moment she was on screen she managed to convey the sense of unearthly creature every time she enters the scene as well as the mysterious quality of the character with little more than a lift of her head or a short piece of dialogue.

As a whole, “Bhoot’ was a welcomed departure from the normal Hindi fare seen on TV or the cinema that could have been better. A tighter rein on plot development and pacing would do wonders to this technically accomplished movie. While the actors playing their parts in the movie did their jobs admirably to the best of their abilities, the audience would undoubtedly be left feeling unsatisfied at the end of the movie. I would personally liken this movie as eating something beautifully presented but have little in terms of substance or fulfillment. Nevertheless, this is something different from the Bollywood movie moguls and I hope that this is just the beginning for greater things to come.

Until then I am left pondering the significance of the catatonic old lady next door of Swati’s apartment from the movie that has never been fully explained.