Before it succumbs to the
Bollywood curse (ha) of a listless second half, Ek Thi Daayan is a shiver-inducing
blast. We start with Emraan Hashmi's magician botching up a trick on stage, induced
by hallucinatory visions. A strangely paced love song with Huma Qureshi later
is followed by a trip to his childhood psychiatrist. The good doctor pushes our
magician into his pre-adolescent past, in the months leading up to the death of
his young sister. And then, for a glorious 45 minutes, Ek Thi Daayan soars like
no other Bollywood horror film I've seen.
As our young child, our
protagonist shows an unhealthy obsession with the occult. In one of the most
spine chilling scenes of the movie, he takes an elevator ride with his sister
down to hell - an act that may also have inadvertently summoned a witch.
Atleast, that's what the kids believe Konkona Sen's Diana is - their single
father on the other hand is besotted by her. Soon enough, Diana enters their
home for good, and as far as the kids are concerned, the games begin.
The genius of this segment of the
movie is the playful use of metaphor. Diana may just be a witch - but she could
also just be the wicked stepmother our protagonist needs to project his anger
on to. Konkona Sen is perfect for walking this tightrope of a performance - the
brief flashes of menace across her face could just as well be the frustrations
of a woman facing rejection from the children she yearns to reach out to. Particularly
delightful is a sequence where she plays a game of hide and seek with the
children - note the manner in which her voice floats from playful to spine
tingling while still somehow maintaining an element of ambiguity. It also helps
that this entire segment sparkles with humour. The kids in particular have
great comic timing, aided by a witty script that knows enough about the horror
genre to not take itself too seriously.
But, but, but.
The flashback only lasts for half
the movie, at which point we are pulled back into the dour present. And it is
here that the cliches begin to pile, dramatic deadweight sets in, horror movie
logic becomes rampant. Kalki Koechlin's appearance gives the movie a jolt of
energy, but the strange extended loop of the plot, and the overbaked climatic
sequence squander that goodwill. Director Kannan Iyer has admitted that
commercial considerations plagued the direction this film takes eventually, and
that seems about right.
For a while, Ek Thi Daayan builds
its power through the faint suggestion that nothing is at it appears, that the
paranormal evil is just the other side of our lived experience. Besides Diana,
Kalki's character could be a witch - or she could be an obsessive lover. Both
narratives work, and the mere suggestion of ambiguity is the most tantalizing
idea. However, rather unfortunately, the movie decides to come down rather hard
one way, dumbing itself down and losing some of its potent first half magic.
Still, I'd say, go watch this one.
Even half of a great movie that tries to overreach is better than the banality
of cinema that doesn't try at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment