Lupt movie review: The Jaaved Jaaferi starrer is plain horrible

So, so wrong. It’s meant to be a ‘supernatural horror’ flick, but what it is, is plain horrible. The plot, driven by a relentlessly ambitious businessman (Jaaferi) whose family holiday goes off the rails, should have been good for a brisk 30 minute TV installment.

We get, instead, a too-stretched two hours featuring a ghostly figure who flits about dark forests, a plastic doll, and a baby stroller which has a will of its own, plaguing said businessman, his wife (Aneja), son (Chaddha) and daughter (Dixit) and her male friend, as they go driving down dark jungle roads and accosting a mysterious figure (Raaz). The latter, togged in a long overcoat and can’t-believe-I’m-saying-this-look, intones: ‘raaste toh kahin nahin jaate, par aap kahaan jaa rahe hain?’

Said gent also has an ‘outhouse’ in a clearing, with a swing which keeps swinging, yes, creakily. ‘Koi jaanwar jhool kar gaya hoga’, says Raaz. I have no idea how he kept a straight face while saying this, but then if all your lines are chortle-worthy, what can you do?

Also, can someone please come up with a worthy role for Jaaferi? All he gets to do here is to shout at his screen son in stentorian tones, or weeping. I would too, if I had to hear a character who is Bollywood’s idea of a psychiatrist, say to me: ‘you are a case of chronic insomnia’.

One character keeps saying, ‘sab marenge’. Everyone will die.

You wait.