Raaz 2: Movie Review
Making a successful horror movie’s a tricky task. People who like horror films have seen so many of them that it requires something really extraordinary to scare them. And the people who detest horror films because it scares them, (and hence are the target audience) mostly stay away. So always there has been an added attraction with the horror to lure the audience in. It could be the good old sex-and-titillation scenes or a good dose of romance. For Raaz: The Mystery Continues, Mohit Suri, the director decides to wrap the horror story with a romance foil.
A good scary opening scene usually sets tone for the movie and gives one a piasa vasoolfeeling. However, the opening sequence of Raaz 2 is pretty lame. It tries hard with a deranged person, blood and sound effects, but it falls flat.
We are then taken into the world of a fashion model Nandita Chopra (Kangana Ranaut), who is in love with a buddy TV film-maker Yash Dayal (Adhyayan Suman). They have a good romantic life when suddenly a series of accidents happen to Nandita and everybody attribute it to having a pret aatmainside her. Yash doesn’t believe in all the bhoot pret shit-shat. So Nandita gets her emotional support from Prithvi (Emraan Hashmi), an artist, who portends her accidents by painting it before-hand. And together they unravel the Raazbehind the accidents by travelling to a religious place called Kalindi (is it a replacement for Alindi ??).
The movie moves at a brisk pace without giving the audiences much time to think. The first half is structured pretty well showing the gradual degeneration of Nandita’s mindset and life. There are a plenty of attempts to scare by the usual suspects like the sudden meetings of strangers; unknown hand accosting the heroine, etc. They work 60% of the time and one feels entertained. There’s an extremely neat mirror sequence in the first half that takes the cake. The second half attempts to go all out to scare the wits of the audience. There’s a scene involving Nandita in a jungle and a sequence on the road with buffaloes. Both the sequences are very well crafted and succeeds in taking one’s breath away while also giving a shock value. The movie seems to peak and is doing very well only to fall apart when the big Raaz is opened up.
For any horror movie to work, the entire story of why it happened must be really good and solid. For the audience to love and enjoy the movie they must be captivated enough to feel that such-and-such happened because of so-an-so reason. But if the reason doesn’t work then the entire premise in which the movie is standing on falls and the film fails to deliver. In Raaz, the entire background story of the ghost and the reasons for the anhonee happenings is a BIG LETDOWN.
Technically the movie is good with some good editing and excellent background music by Raju Singh. The sound effects are good and up to the mark. The cinematography, a very important aspect of any horror flick doesn’t raise above average. There has been efforts to use color filters in some sequences but somehow they don’t seem to accentuate the scene much.
Acting wise Kangana Ranaut has a very meaty role and she delivers it with gusto and gives an exemplary performance. She plays the possessed-by-ghost part with a lot of conviction. As a first for a mainstream movie heroine, also gets to say Mad** Ch** Bh**** Ch**. Emraan Hashmi does well but he doesn’t anything great in this role. Adhyayan Suman needs to brush up his acting and needs to improve his dancing pronto. In one of the songs his dancing becomes unintentionally hillarious.
The movie starts off very well and promises a grand finale. But once the background story is out, the movie plods in it’s attempt to bring everything together and all the characters involved in one big scary bundle. It doesn’t work at all and leaves one feeling foolish at the end of an unintentionally goofy little climax.
Overall not a bad movie but not worth spending money on the multipexes.
Tags: Adhyayan Suman, Bollywood, Emraan Hashmi, Horror Genre, kangana ranaut, Mohit Suri, Movie Review, Raaz 2, Raju singh
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Didn’t Rani also say those BC/MC words in Bichoo?
fair review. but wud prefer deciding myself, wether to spend or not. wink!
If I see Kangna in another mentally disturbed, on the verge of suicide character in one more film, i’m gonna go and kill her myself!
‘Raaz 2′ is not helping to break her ‘Queen of Tragedy’ image!
The film ain’t great either.
Just ok.
Emran was SO stylish though!
He looked and acted very well.
The lighting and cinematography is what salvaged the film for me.
Those colour filters really enhanced the film for me.
Having said that, I guess they tried, although it’s just not SCARY!
Oh well…
@ravi
Haven’t seen Bichu so no idea dude..
@Magik:
Well I would recommend u to see it..atleast for Kangana’s sake..being a fan of hers u will enjoy seeing her in variety of minimal clothing and she acted quite well as well..
@steve:
Yeah she’s stereotyped as a mentally disturbed girl right from Gangster and Woh Lamhe..And i don’t think the image will move off any time soon..
@ Sudhir: how da hell did u know? dis was a striktly ‘andar ki baat’ bole to dil ke andar ki baat! LOL!
Abbe u only said it one of ur comments i think..kabhi kabhi dil ki baat khud hi bahar aati hai!!
i need to kontrol my emotions… lol.
i liked the first one for that one dialogue of bipasha….something liek its banzar zameen par aaj barsaat hogi…blah blah….there was too much sex in taht one line….great fun.
but this one is boring….just back after watching it for 60 bucks….gawwd….it made me feel so sleepy….its so long and its india’s first Green Bhooth!! we should be so proud…even our bhooths r so conscious abt environment. but i still think mohit has lot of potential.
After watching Raaz-2 I feel we should again check out the meaning of the word ‘horror’ in the dictionary.Does it really mean ’scary’ anymore???
Horror films made in bollywood in recent times have so much masala in them except for the most important 1- fear. The most scary stuff one can find in such films is the sound effects that are as loud as in Ekta Kapoor’s TV shows.
I remember one scene from ‘What lies beneath’ that scared the shit out of me.
Michelle Pfiffer feels she saw something at the lake in the water while picking up the ball with which her dog was playing. There was a loooooooooooong pin-drop silence and she bends towards it closer and closer. Trrriiinnnnnngggg! The phone in her pocket screams and damn…I jumped from my seat for the first and only the time ever while watching a film. There was no loud background music and that is what I call scary!
As far as those ghostly, scary scenes of Raaz-2 are concerned,they were mostly impoted from some popular hollywood horror flicks… from Grudge to Ring 1-n-2 to Mirrors and of course the famous TV series Heroes.
Mohit Suri is a good film maker and I had really expected so much with Raaz-2.There is nothing wrong in getting inspired by hollywood films but I was wishing at least some ‘original’ scary scenes.
I did like one scene when Adhyayan Suman’s hand gets caught at the ATM. But the dude has to urgently improve his acting skills or else he’ll only be known as Shekhar Suman’s son or Kangana’s boyfriend.
At many places the dialogues also slipped away below average.
On the brighter side, I agree the look and cinematography was definitely good.If it had had a better script, Raaz-2 would have been on a different level (read:better) altogether!
Prerna, yes, I agree, agree and agree with ur take on this.
The sound effects were too gimicky and there was hardly any atmosphere.
Just makes me appreciate certain scenes in Ramu’s ‘Bhoot’ so much more!
The silences were so effective there.
And boy, there was PLENTY of atmosphere too!
Comment 3 – Really laughed – you’d kill KR yourself Steve…
Prerna, you’ve written 12 with all earnestness but found it somehwat funny…no offence….that scene from WLB – true…silence really ups the fear factor….
@Pnu,
Yeah even I think Mohit’s got potential, but he must come out of the Bhatt cocoon to do something different; else he’ll forever be stuck with Emraan Hashmi and pakistani songs promos. And yeah the green bhoot angle got me rolling my eyes and wanting to haunt the writer after I die
@ Prerna
I think hindi horror flicks will only scare if they focus only in the writing part and not be carried away by incorporating romantic elements n all..In Raaz2, for a second in the middle i was afraid this is going to be a love triangle of sorts !!
Arthi, Lol!
Yeah, I mean c’mon, how many times can we see a screaming, depressed, hysterical, blood stained, half dead Kangna??!
Yes, she does it well but MAN, give us a break!!
Who’s her manager?
Is he the one who chooses her roles or is she?!
And, just to confuse us, we had an extention of Cat Walk ‘Fashion’ scenes to add to the repetition factor.
I do like Kangna.
No, really I do.
But i’m getting fed up with it now.
It’s actually becoming comical!
Steve bhai!
On a slightly unrelated yet related note, please join me in killing Irrfan Khan next time he does this bewda “aiyee-mere-ko-neend se-kis- B@choth-ne-uthaya-ab-uthaya-tho-mujhe-jhelo” style of restless murmurring to himself kind of talk. I do not know if I am clear enough, but I hope you get the essence. It is grating and very very irritating. Saale ne Hutch ad ko bhi nahi choda!
I think its a fair review. the movie had its moments , some of the scary moments/ scenes worked and were well done. But i think , once the story and reasoning is out, the movie falls flat on its face. kangana is good, i thought. the actors emraan and adhyaman are both wooden.
dont waste money on the plexes, watch it on DVD, is all i suggest. 2-3 gaane masth hain
along with avoiding manic depressive suicidal role , kangna needs to run away from english dialogues too …
the worst part about adhyaman is he looks like shekhar suman with a beard … horribly hilarious.
and the funniest thing I read in a long time is when todays times of india review of raaz 2 compares emraan with colin farrell …
Ya I also feel that Kangna is a good actress and she desperately needs to do something different.Actually all the films in which she did the “mentally disturbed” roles have been hits and have make a big impact.She is very young and should also try some college romance films instead of doing all older woman roles.In fact I would love to see her in a comedy.That would be a welcome change.
This film should have been titled Raaz – The Torture continues
Santosh Kumar!
Yeah, i know what u mean, even i had trouble understanding why people rave about Irfan’s ’sust’ style of acting.
But, in his defence, atleast he tries different roles once in a while.
Lekin hamari ‘madam’? Chaance illai!
Actually, i feel as if i’ve been to Kangna’s funeral 10times over!!
Yeh toh too much hogeya.
And no, ‘Crappa Lakka Poo Poo’ doesn’t count!
But Prasun, now that you’ve mentioned it, I can see the Colin Farell-Emran resemblence!
Not that u agree, ofcourse!
the movie is quite good……
emraan was just superb & kangnaa looked quite pretty in the second half….
in one of the scene just due to fall of a photo frame in her bathroom the whole screen was shaking…..so plz beware of such silly scenes as welll…
but its still good for a one time watch
The horror rings true on another level.
From an AP report yesterday:
”PATANCHERU, India – When researchers analyzed vials of treated wastewater taken from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.
And it wasn’t just ciprofloxacin being detected. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating medicine cabinet — a soup of 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. Half of the drugs measured at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say.
Those Indian factories produce drugs for much of the world, including many Americans. The result: Some of India’s poor are unwittingly consuming an array of chemicals that may be harmful, and could lead to the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria.
“We don’t have any other source, so we’re drinking it,” said R. Durgamma, a mother of four, sitting on the steps of her crude mud home in a bright flowered sari a few miles downstream from the treatment plant. High drug concentrations were recently found in her well water. “When the local leaders come, we offer them water and they won’t take it.”
The complete article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090125/ap_on_re_as/pharmawater_india
the mirror sequence is taken from Keiffer sutherland flick “The mirrors” , apart from that ,the ring seems to be very popular with indian filmmakers , reindeers ramming the card are replaced with CGI cows(or yaks was it) plus everyone has to take a dip in the eerie well to decipher the secret !.
like you said first half was neatly structured , it pretty much went downhill once jackie appeared onscreen !
Steve: LMAO @ If I see Kangna in another mentally disturbed, on the verge of suicide character in one more film, i’m gonna go and kill her myself!
*
No freaking kidding eh! And all the roles are so… trashy… I mean, she also seems so, you know, “used & abused” in these roles… Gangster, Life in a Metro, Woh Lamhe, Fashion, Raaz 2… can she not be emotionally stable in at least ONE film?
@Santosh,
So much hatred for Irfan Khan !! Cool down yaar agreed his mumbling is irritating; but atleast he’s one of the only few good actors that we have..
@morph,
haven’t seen the Keiffer sutherland flick, but saw similar scenes in some Aahat episodes as well!
@rabindro,
Thanks for sharing that article..was an eye opener..am sure this similar situation would be occuring in various parts of our country whereever there are chemical factories who do not adhere to the waste management laws..
I have watched Irfan in 3 movies Maqbool,Killer and Metro.I found him to be a great actor what ever be his style.He was outstanding in Maqbool,Killer was a watchable movie only because of him and it is true that in Metro he got overattention inspite of other actors also performing equally well
Tony Mera Naan!
Kangna has given us an ‘overdose’ too…
..of these roles!
She’s desensitising me to pain now!
Jab kisiko morphine ki zaroorat padegi, they’ll show Kangna films at the hospital as an example of what pain is!
Dr’s will say, ”Toh kya hua agar tum baccha deliver kar rahi ho? Tumhaara dard Kangna ke dard se zyaada nahin hain!”
Or they’ll shout, ”CHILAO matt! Tumhaari taang hi toh tooti hain…
Hamari Kangna ka dil roz toot ta hain, woh to uff bhi nahin karti! Dard sehna seekho!!’
Lol!
Uff!
Rabindro, that’s just shocking!
I guess in that case we should applaud the film on one level for highlighting that issue.
Yes, it’s a lousy horror film, but this aspect is no short of a horror story.
Sad….
@ Prerna this movie is a thriller, which has been completely justified in the movie and as far the bellowing is bothered by you, I’d suggest ’stop watching Ekta’!
@ Sudhir, I think you need to watch this movie again without any prior thoughts. You made tons of misinterpretations out of this movie, sounds like mystery to you. Most important, Adhyayan Suman isn’t playing a Film maker, but a TV Reporter and this is where your whole post derails the actual script. Coz the eventual suspense/mystery/theory of the story originates from his job. Each and every dialogue in the movie is conceptualized with morals/messages, which might seem dumb or pretentious to people, but they do make sense and hold the script. If I’m not mistaken, I suppose the 80’s horror/thriller used to carry such elements of gods & goddesses, truth, evil, greed or whatever fuck up, and so has Raaz 2 repeated. Not lame at all, since the theme has been narrated in the absolute beginning of the film. Do watch the movie again??!!@#
@komal
Frankly i was confused about Adhyayan’s role, even i figured he was a reporter but when his documentary wins an award, he goes to pick it up showing that he’s just not a reporter but one of the producers as well..
And let’s say that u are right and i got his role wrong, it still doesn’t change the fact that the secret behind the Bhoot was farcical and a let down..like i mentioned in the post, till the secret was out the movie kept us entertained after that it all fizzled out..
its a good movie..if we devide the movie in two parts the first part is extraorinary..the second part is not so good..end is boring…so i give 3 stars …
It is gud to watch at least once.
movie is gud…songs r ultimate, mine blowing…
kangna is looking sooo smart in the movie and emraan too….i like emraan’s atittude and i like him also cming in ma favourites…muaaaaah..
Kangna is fabulous. As a guy who watches her films more than thrice I found this problem with her – when she comes on screen all others pale into insignificance. She is a born actress with a gifted body. May be she scares people away with the power in her posession.
Raaz 2 is a nice movie to watch.IM from andhra.the stroy is good and i think the main highlight of the film is emraan and kangana