| Darna Zaroori Hai |
| Director: Sajid Khan, Ramgopal Varma, Prawal Raman |
| Starring: Manoj Pahwa, Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh |
| Released: April 28, 2006 |
| by Rajesh Shah |
|

After three years, Ramgopal Varma brings forth another experiment to combine different stories with one ending. In this second Darna series, like the previous one, there are six stories directed by six different directors. The film is different to say the least, but the horror isn't that high to affect your senses a lot.
In the first story directed by Sajid Khan, Manoj Pahwa plays a film buff who watches a film every night and is warned by his mother not to walk by the graveyard, but of course he does and dies of cardiac arrest. Interesting plot but the climax was not scary enough. Pahwa does a decent job while director Sajid Khan proves his talent.
The second story is about an old professor [Amitabh Bachchan] who believes there's someone in his house and he tells the same to his student [Ritesh Deshmukh], who doesn't believe him. Then the invisible man finally reveals himself and scares them both. It's shocking and scary and director Ramgopal Varma delivers. The third story is directed by Prawal Raman and is about a stranger [Arjun Ramphal] who asks for help from a couple [Bipasha Basu, Makrand Deshpande] when his car breaks down in their secluded bungalow. They are eccentric and repeatedly try to scare Arjun. Later, Makrand calls these spirits, who arrive but refuse to go back. This one is better than the earlier two as it does startle you. A bit long and drawn, it could have ended sooner. The fourth story is about a Maharashtrian couple [Suniel Shetty, Sonali Bendre], who meet an uncanny salesman [Rajpal Yadav]. In reality, he's a thief who wants to rob them and ends up shooting them. Suniel, Sonali, and Rajpal's efforts are wasted as director Vivek Shah disappoints. The fifth story is about an important film-maker [Anil Kapoor] who wants to make a horror film and is driving to his bungalow in Khandala when he gives a lift to a lady [Mallika Sherawat]. When they reach their destination she tells him she's a ghost who had died on the Mumbai-Pune highway. An engaging story but the climax is unsatisfactory. Anil is alright, but Mallika is just competent.
Director Jijy Philip is above average. The sixth story is probably the best. Director Chekeravarthy is marvelous and comes out the winner. One rainy night, Randeep Hooda accidentally knocks out a woman and he is frightened of the outcome. The next morning, he finds himself in jail accused of murdering a man. Though he says he's innocent, the cop [Zakir Hussain] snubs him. The mother of the victim [Rasika Joshi] turns up at the police station and the story unravels. Totally an edge of the seat thriller kinda story. Randeep rocks while Rasika and Zakir are good. To tie all of these stories together, there's a silly link about an old lady and five children who take refuge in a ramshackle bungalow when she starts narrating stories and the kids die of shock.
It's not outright scary like Raat or Bhoot was but Darna Zaroori Hai does have its moments. For fun, if not for scare - check it out!
| Want to contribute your own movie reviews? E-mail us to find out more.
|
|