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Star cast: Bobby Deol, Mugdha Godse, Shreyas Talpade.
Plot: Mugdha gets possessed by a spirit which is out to kill all those who are close to her. Bobby, her husband, contacts Shreyas, and together, they try to understand whose spirit is troubling her.
What’s Good: A few horror scenes.
What’s Bad: The routine screenplay; the absence of too many scary scenes.
Verdict: Help will need help to sail through, which it may not get.
Loo break: Some in the slow first half.
Rupali Aum Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Help (A) is a horror film. Vic (Bobby Deol) is married to Pia (Mugdha Godse) and they are going through a difficult time in their marriage. They have to suddenly rush to Mauritius to take care of Pia’s father (Salim Fateh) who has been hospitalised.
Strange things start happening to Pia in their ancient home in Mauritius. Pia realises that she is pregnant but the joy is short-lived because a spirit seems to possess her. The spirit appears to be that of Pia’s twin sister, Dia, who died when they were both five years old. Soon, the spirit starts to kill the people close to Pia.
In a race against time, Vic contacts parapsychologist Dr. Aditya Motwani (Shreyas Talpade) to discover the dark and terrifying truth behind the spirit. To his horror, Vic realises that Dia did not die in the presence of Pia, as has been assumed for years. He also learns that the spirit troubling Pia is not that of Dia. Is Vic able to save Pia and the child in her womb?
Deepak Pawar and Viddesh Malandkar’s story and screenplay are quite routine. The revelation of the identity of the spirit is, no doubt, novel but other than that, there is precious little which has not been seen in earlier films of this genre. Besides, the pace of the drama is not too fast as a result of which the fear element gets diluted.
The first half is rather dull and boring with not much happening. Since it is a horror drama, the entire track of the tension between Vic and Pia works as an impediment in reaching the main horror part of the drama. The pace picks up after interval but except for the angle of the spirit’s identity, there isn’t much newness in the story. Also, the horror element is far less than what it should’ve been.
Bobby Deol does a fair job. Mugdha Godse is reasonably nice, especially in the horror scenes. Shreyas Talpade is okay in a guest appearance. Salim Fateh performs as per the demand of his role. Jyoti Dogra, as Pia’s mother, does a fine job. Sophia Handa passes muster.
Rajeev Virani’s direction is average. Although his narration is straight, he has not been able to create much of the eerieness and the fear one associates with horror films. Dhimat Vyas’ camerawork is okay; at times, tight close-ups mar the effect of a scene. Music (Ashutosh Phatak) is quite nice but the songs haven’t been popularised enough. ‘Kehna hai’ is a good number. The title track is fast-paced. ‘Kyun gum hai’ is quite good. Irshad Kamil’s lyrics are fairly good. Background music (Ashutosh Phatak) should’ve been better.
On the whole, Help may have done at least average business had it started off on a reasonable note, but its dull initial will not let the film reach even the average mark.
– By Komal Nahta
