1920 - Evil Returns movie review : glamsham.com

Scares in bits & pieces


Director :	Bhushan Patel
Music :	Chirantan Bhatt
Lyrics :	Shakeel Azmi, Junaid Warsi and Manoj Yadav
Starring :	Aftab Shivdasani, Tia Bajpai, Sagar Saikia and Vidya Malvade

November 3, 2012 10:48:51 AM IST
By Martin D'Souza, Glamsham Editorial

The lighting is dim with a slight bluish tinge; the houses are huge enough to be haunted. In one huge house there is just the protagonist and two servants. In another, four servants serve two. In between dialogues we understand that this film is in India because there is reference to a Chota Gaon. But the horses and the carriages you see along with the huge mansions with large manicured lawns tell you otherwise. This could be either Ireland or England. For that matter even Switzerland.


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There is a permanent frown on all the actors' faces. To top it all, even a fool will know that he has to avoid walking in a dense jungle in the dead of night all alone. But our heroine does this twice to be scared off her wits.

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There is also the customary howl, the standard scary person creeping behind the back of the unsuspecting actor; the usual twisting of faces and mouthing of profanities. And yes, I forgot to mention a cemetery. This in short is 1920 - EVIL RETURNS. Yes, it looks good. But does it scare? In bits and pieces. But it's not a scare that makes you jump out of your skin, or keeps you on tenterhooks about what to expect next with fear gripping you.

Jaidev Verma (Aftab Shivdasani) is a poet whose poetry has found a permanent residence in the heart of a fan, Smriti (Tia Bajpai). Verma lives with his sister Karuna (Vidya Malvade). It so happens that on October 25, Smriti's birthday, these two love birds who had never met decide to meet. Unfortunately, Jaidev is told that Smriti fell off the stairs five days ago and died. He is heart-broken.
Two years later, Smriti again sets out to meet Jaidev. Alas! a spirit has kept her captive in the mansion and will not allow her to leave. But her man Friday has got her a taveez or something of the sort to help her reach her destination. As fate and script would have it, she does not reach there in one piece, but Jaidev does find an unconscious girl washed ashore. He takes her home to care for her not knowing who she is. On her part, and for the convenience of the script, Smriti has lost her memory.


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From here the story unfolds; why she did not meet him two years ago, whose spirit is holding her captive and why Jaidev is going through this torment. Obviously there has to be a back story. But I won't spoil it for you in case you are planning to view it.

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My only suggestion to Vikram Bhatt is that if he is spending so much money on the production of a film, he should also consider getting a damn good scary story. There is no dearth of writers in India. I'm sure if he looks sincerely beyond what is available to him, he will find one that will scare the wits out of the audience.

Come on, Vikram, you can do it. I'm not asking for an ENTITY, but Indian cinema has evolved to at least give us a fright somewhere close to it.

Rating: 2.0