Raaz (2002)

Perfectly adorable

Great Film overall

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is a huge misconception by a lot of people that this movie was appreciated because of Horror. Absolutely wrong. Story , acting and Music gives soul to this movie.Hats off to MALINI SHARMA and ASHUTOSH RANA and all singers of this movie.I watched this movie 15 years ago when I was a school going kid, and ,yesterday I watched it again. It is still a very good and as enjoyable movie as it was 15 years ago. If this movie would have hit the cinema halls in recent times it would have entered the list of one of the highest grossing movies of Indian cinema. In current scenario, most of the Indian movies are lacking in terms of good script . Acting and sometimes Music alone are the two things which makes up a movie. I think Indian directors are not working for digging out stories. Oh come on, how come directors and producers can't find stories in a nation of 120+ crore population.Seeing movies like Kasoor, RaaZ and Dushman ,I can say Vikram Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt are MOST talented directors. But nowadays their movies are lacking good script. Please ,if you read ,I am their fan. They must really work on finding and developing good stories. They should understand the audience's psychology, what we like . We love music romance and Acting embedded in good story, which they did give us in this movie , but, they are not able to give it in their last few movies.

2005:Despite having seen bits & pieces on un-subtitled Videos which my dad would tape over,I had never seen a full title from the Bollywood industry.Going round to a friends house,I got offered to watch a Bollywood Horror flick that he had recently picked up.Whilst I found the running time to be a bit on the daunting side, (2 and a half hours!) I felt that it was time that I gave Bollywood a chance.During the titles running time,I found myself completely mesmerised by a movie which was unlike anything that I had seen before,with the title offering spooky chills & catchy songs,which has led to it becoming my 7th favourite film.The plot:Ooty-Playing around with her student pals, Nisha rushes into a woodland area,where she suddenly hears a deafening female scream.Rushing to the hospital, Ashutosh Rana is told that by doctors that Nisha has caught a disease that they have never seen before.Taking a look at Nisha,Rana tells the Drs that it is not an illness,but a ghost which Nisha has unleashed.With Nisha having given the ghost entry,the ghost kills Nisha,and then sets off on a search for its main target.Mumbai:Getting into a fight with her husband, Sanjana Dhanraj jumps into her car,and drives off.Shortly after she begins driving,Sanjana hears her name from a mysterious voice,which leads to Sanjana fainting & crashing her car.Waking up in hospital,Sanjana is met by her businessman husband Aditya.Talking to Aditya about the voice,Sanjana is told that it is most likely that her imagination is running wild,due to their relationship having recently been troubled,and Sanjana also having started to use sleeping pills.Keen to give their relationship a second chance,Aditya tells Sanjana that they can spend some quality time together,by going on holiday to anywhere Sanjana wants to go.This leads to Sanjana deciding that they should go to the place where their relationship began:Ooty.Arriving in Ooty,Sanjana's hopes of finding calm quickly shatter,when she begins to hear constant screeching screams from a ghostly female voice.Initially thinking that she is going insane,Sanjana soon discovers that she must find the secret behind the mysterious cursed voice.View on the film:For the first of his ghost/demon quartet,director Vikram Bhatt soaks the film in an atmosphere mist,which along with allowing the screeching scream to cut through the mist like a butchers knife,also allows Bhatt to create a chilling mood,as Bhatt shows the endless trees in the forest to be wrapped in a frosty scream. Complementing the excellent soundtrack,Bhatt & his cinematographer dad Pravin give the title a beautiful,extremely stylised appearance,thanks to the Bhatt's using primary colours such as blue and lemon to represent Sanjana's dread,and by also using fantastic tracking shots,which show the voice/ghost locking itself onto Sanjana,and leaving her completely isolated.Playing a very lively song over the opening credits,the 6 songs by Raju Rao/Shravan Rathod and Nadeem Saifi never feel disconnected from the rest of the titles,with each of the songs featuring a melancholia beat,which matches the disintegration of Sanjana & Aditya's relationship.Marking Vikram Bhatt's entry to the Horror genre,the screenplay by Girish Dhamija & Mahesh Bhatt takes the bare outline of the Hollywood title What Lies Beneath,and uses it to jump to extraordinary territories,which allow the film to include every spooky things possible,from subtle ghostly frights,to a wonderfully over the top demonic zombie!Reaching these vast leaps,the writers cleverly make sure that the terror never overwhelms the horrors which are entering Sanjana & Aditya relationship.Putting Sanjana at the centre of the film,the writers make the chills surrounding their female-led Horror title ones that at first look disconnected to the melodrama taking place,but slowly seep into the dramatic elements,to reveal how fractured Sanjana and Aditya's relationship has become.Getting the opportunity to at last step off the catwalk,the elegant Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea (who were both hired because they were cheap!) each give fantastic performances.Lighting up the film,Basu covers Sanjana's face with scars of anxiety that deepen as Sanjana finds that not only does she have to try and save her marriage,but that she also has a ghost trying to make her insane.Appearing absolutely clean-cut, Morea expertly rips Aditya's perfect image apart,as Aditya's devilish grin begins to quiver,when he begins to fear that he may be connected to his wife's "issues".Joining Basu and Morea, Ashutosh Rana gives a charming,world-weary performance as Professor Agni Swaroop,who Rana shows is grasping to keep a grip on his sanity,as Sanjana uncovers the secret of Raaz.

Raaz is a very average film in terms of film-making. It's a very funny mixture of thriller and romance. While films like Bhoot use music which contributes to the film's genre perfectly, the songs in Raaz are very melodious and romantic, which makes them odd and unsuitable for a thriller like Raaz. Anyway, if the film had been made as a complete thriller, it would probably have not succeeded commercially as expected by the producers. Generally, thrillers and horror films often display magical realism to make it more convincing and scaring (again, Bhoot), and the acting is natural for the same purpose, but this film has far too many unrealistic sequences, over-the-top dialogues and exaggerated acting (except for Bipasha) even in very ordinary and simple scenes which are not part of the suspense. This does not mean though the effect was damaged completely, because you wouldn't really expect to see a realistic film with such a story. Raaz therefore does work as a thriller most of the time. Dino Morea does not make a great impact. This is not really a performance-driven role, though he is restrained throughout and looks suitable for the role. The film has one main highlight for me, and it's Bipasha Basu who carries the film on her own shoulders. Although these were still the days when she had not yet become a national sex symbol, this girl had extremely expressive eyes and graceful mannerisms. She did not perform brilliantly, nor did she look as stunningly beautiful as she looks today, but she did perform well and looked attractive and beautiful. And the dubbing artist... she did a fabulous job for her. And speaking of dubbing, yes, the film secretly used professional dubbing for several actors, including the main lead, which is good because from what I know the starring actors were yet to work on their voices and diction at that point of time. And though it does make wonders, as the performances seem to be much more convincing, the dubbing at several points faces foul-ups. Several scenes had a noticeable lack of compatibility between the voice over and the facial expressions, which was quite annoying. Anyway, Raaz may not be a great film, but it is a decent entertainer, and as a time-pass flick it does the required. It may have had better results had it been directed by someone like Ram Gopal Varma, but it should be worthy of a one-time watch.

Asian filmmakers keep surprising us these past years. India does it this time with horror as part of a musical film. In the spirit of Bollywood. But I must say, I have never been a horrorfan. And so I actually was not sure if I should watch this movie. No regrets. The story is good, although the full explanation of what happened in the past is a bit long. But it is Bollywood, and they don't send you home after 74 or 90 minutes watching in full speed. They give you value for your money. Even the make up is well done, compare to other movies in it's genre, and the music is at the right time, the right place and in the right mood. Bollywood has done well with this movie, but I still prefer the romantic stuff...