1920 - Evil Returns Hindi Movie
It isn't too much of a rocket science to expect Vikram Bhatt to make a sequel of 1920. After all, among the last few horror films of his, 1920 has been one of his most celebrated works. The film that released four years ago starring Rajneesh Duggal and Adah Sharma was quite an engrossing fair making it worthy enough to be turned into a franchise.
Although in terms to the story there may not be any relevance between the sequel 1920 Evil Returns to its predecessor but the elements of possession, revenge, romance etc all remains the same. Titled on the year on which it is based, the film revolves around Jaidev Varma (Aftab Shivdasani), a poet, who lives a life of a loner courtesy his unrequited love. He only has a sister Karuna (Vidya Malvade) to call his own until he stumbles upon Smruti (Tia Bajpai) ashore a lake. He feels and instant connects with her and brings her home only to realize that she is possessed. She has lost her memory and doesn't understand what possesses her body. Jaidev is hell bent on saving her life and wants to unearth the reasons that got her to this condition. There comes out a past that leaves him aghast! Will he save Smruti from the evil riding her body or not follows through the rest of the plot.
Vikram Bhatt who made the engaging predecessor commits every possible wrong in its sequel. The (barring the locations) fails to justify the year in which it is set. Neither the characters nor their dialogues or costumes do justice to the year 1920. Instead he ends up making it appear farce.
There is too much back story to the plot and the non linear narrative of moving back and forth in time only makes it all the more verbose and tedious. Even the romantic angle comes across as too much of a cliche with Aftab acting like a lovesick pup almost all the time.
In any supernatural thriller, having some nail biting, nerve chilling scenes are a must have. However, Vikram Bhatt's 1920 Evil Returns only makes you laugh out loud. There are far too many LOL moments in the film especially when the actors mouth dialogues. Some lines that really need to be listed are, "Jisne mere geet ko sangeet diya hai uske liye Sangeeta se acha aur kya naam ho sakta hai?" or even "Kabristan se parinda (crow) utha hai, iska matlab koi atma uthegi."
Aftab Shivdasani looks glum almost in the entire film but acts decent for his role. Vidya Malvade who plays Aftab's sister in the film could actually give some chills with her cakey make up, blue eyes and hairdo. Tia Bajpai is good as she essays out the all the gory scenes well.
Music which has otherwise been a key element in 1920 gets used in a similar fashion but lacks the punch. Composed by Chirantan Bhatt, the music doesn't grow on you rather only annoy you owing to the banal lyrics like 'tum bhi tanhaa ho hum bhi tanhaa hain dono roney lagey!'
To sum it up, 1920 Evil Returns neither engages you nor scares you. The film ends up turning into a comedy instead.
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