Darna Zaroori Hai Hindi Movie

Feature Film | 2006
Critics:
Audience:
Mar 9, 2006 By GaRam


Darna Mana Hai wasn’t the scariest horror thriller but was path-breaking in terms of its concept, screenplay format and execution. So obviously you expect the sequel to be bigger and better. Darna Zaroori Hai is bigger when it comes to the starcast but unfortunately isn’t better when it comes to storytelling. Comparisons are inevitable though technically speaking DZH isn’t a sequel to DMH since there is no continuity between the two parts. The only common link is the screenplay format.



Still Darna Zaroori Hai starts were Darna Mana Hai ends. The introductory story directed by Sajid Khan shows Manoj Pahwa watching Darna Mana Hai for a night show and returning back from a graveyard at the midnight. This smartly executed episode talks about the fear of mind and gives the movie an impressive initiation. But unfortunately the consistency isn’t maintained through the approaching episodes.



Lets get this very clear. Darna Zaroori Hai is a horror flick. That means it has to scare the audiences. But it succeeds only partially. It reminds you of those stories that grandparents narrate to kids but the motive behind that being that the kids fall asleep. Even the thrills induced are more because of sound effects, shot-executions and editing patterns. The stories don’t scare you. Some of them don’t even bind you.



Ram Gopal Varma directs the second episode where Amitabh Bachchan plays a hallucinating professor who sees a person in his house that others can’t. Bachchan does a splendid act and Riteish Deshmukh supports him ably. Only if the story could provide some more support. The problem here is that where the horror begins, the story ends. The disadvantage of dealing with short stories is that it leaves a lot to be desired.



Prawaal Raman who directed all the episodes of the original comes next with his story of planchet. Do spirits come when called through planchets is the theme of this episode, and is executed interestingly! This story captivates and Bipasha Basu, Makrand Deshpande and Arjun Rampal put in convincing acts. However to those hooked to Hitchcock horrors, it won’t take much to figure out the mystery beforehand.



Debutante director Vivek Shah comes up with the weakest of all the episodes. Rajpal Yadav hams hysterically as an insurance agent who is out to safeguard families with his policies. Neither is he a psycho nor a split personality but still behaves erratically. There is no fear attached to this episode. Horror story or horrific story? How one wishes the movie could have done without this episode like the apple story in the first part. The common element between both the stories being Rajpal Yadav!



The next episode by Jijy Philip just seems to be added as a tribute (read take-off) on Ramu’s rivals – Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra. That is blatantly evident from the protagonist of this story played by Anil Kapoor who is named Karan Chopra. This guy has family flicks like Kabhi Kabhi Hota Hai to his credit. Even his assistant is named Dharma (a take-off on Johar’s production house). So rather than scary, this episode turns out to be funny with all the intentional spoofs. But in this department Ram Gopal Varma doesn’t even spare himself when, in the first episode of the film, he shows the cinema hall playing his film Darna Mana Hai to a vacant auditorium. The story is well developed but after a point of time predictability seeps in. Mallika Sherawat lacks horror timing.



The best of all the episodes comes at the very end that has horror coming out from the story and not just the setting. Director J D Chekravarthy doesn’t serve you the expected. And interestingly this episode, which has the least star-power, has the best performances amongst all episodes. Randeep Hooda and Zakir Hussain are spooky. The culmination of the plot is also<

GaRam

   

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