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Mallika

A garbled script is rendered completely senseless by overuse of VFX gimmickry,poor technical values,humdrum performances and body and skin-show.

Heroine Sanjana (Sheena Nayyar) gets strange visions while lying in bed in an outfit that shows more than it hides. Those visions are obviously terrifying and ghostly. Still the woman is ‘spirit’ed enough to drive down alone for a solo holiday (!) to a Fort Khejarta (hope we got the spelling right) and on the way,after her car breaks down and a comely young man called Sahil (Sammir Dattani – what’s he doing here???) gives her a lift,weird things happen.

And yes,Sahil is also headed to the fort,which is now a holiday resort run by Vikram (Himanshu Malik) and his licentious wife Maya (Pooja Ballutia) who is having it out with fashion photographer Maddy (Arjun Mahajan). But who is Mallika? Well,she is the true and original owner of the fort but was murdered by a gold-digger husband (Mamik). Sanjana is the spitting image of Mallika (a reincarnation is hinted at,but not established as a narrative device).

But she is not being used as the medium as the bodies start piling up. Why? And who is the medium then? And why are unconnected people being bumped off?

A garbled script is rendered completely senseless by an overuse of VFX gimmickry,poor technical values,humdrum performances and body and skin-show that reach levels of smut akin to B- and C-grade skin-flicks.

Poor Sammir Dattani tries to give respectability to the film. But it’s a no-show. The bath-tub,anointed with roses and undressed ladies,is a repeated feature in the film. But alas,for the first film of PPC Horrotainment,it’s both horror and entertainment down the drain! The film was earlier titled 8,but it gets only a two out of ten.

Rating: One star for Sammir’s sincerity even in this disaster.

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  • Suresh Menon
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