1920 London (2016)

Directed by Tinu Suresh Desai, 1920 London is the third supernatural drama produced by Vikram Bhatt set in that year. The fascination began in 2008 with 1920, which was centred around a ghostly stately manor and an exorcism.In 2012's 1920: The Evil Returns, the director, cast and locations were new, but the story revisited the themes of possession and evil spirits idea. Desai's 2016 film is set between in 1920s London and Rajasthan.However period correctness is clearly not a priority with the filmmaker as we see Shivangi, a royal married woman with her head uncovered in a Rajput court, and gliding around her manor in the UK with her knees and arms exposed.This is a fashion forward Victorian era! If one were to dwell on authenticity, it would be hard to get past the changing length of Sharman Joshi's beard and hair.So let's cut to the plot instead. The life of a happily married young couple in London changes horrifyingly after the arrival of a surprise gift from India. A spirit seeps out and possesses the husband. Shivangi (Meera Chopra) returns to India to seek help as she sees her husband Veer Singh's (Vishal Karwal) health decline dramatically.Fearing that a dangerous spirit has possessed him, she approaches a renowned exorcist. He turns out to be none other than her former lover, Jai (Sharman Joshi). In spite of having been dumped and served jail term because of Shivangi's betrayal, Jai travels to London to save Veer.The story relies on pulling off one major twist, but it's a rather obvious one and once you figure it out the sporadic and half-hearted attempts at grisly, jumpy scares ebb away. A jilted lover with black magic expertise is hardly likely to be a saint.Sharman Joshi tries hard to play menacing, mysterious and repentant but he's just out of step in the part of an exorcist. Meera Chopra is unimpressive as the helpless wife while Karwal spends most of the film lying in a bed being eaten away by the evil spirit.Besides one extended exorcism scene, and the painstaking make-up that shows Veer's gradual degradation by the spirit, this is a drab effort with hardly a shock sandwiched between all the frills, frocks and Rajput finery.Perhaps all the horror there was, has been sucked out of 1920.

Shivangi and Veer are happily living in London. But after receiving a parcel from India, Veer is possessed by a witch. So,Shivangi returns to India to seek help from Jai sing an exorcist. The story has nothing new to offer but the twist before the second half is interesting which do not last for long.Songs are good .Performance wise Sharman Joshi is impressive. But, the problem with this film is that the screenplay had been poorly written.And there are no scary scenes in this flick which can make you scream.However, the climax is the only nice part of this film which do not let you down. Though the VFX are good but not scary,background score could've been better.There is also a good thing about this film that it does not bore.Honestly, I'm saying that this is the only film in the 1920 series which I like.Vikram sir, if you had worked on script a little more it could've been a good horror film. "Wait for another film in series", is my advice to the horror fans.

The poster itself is a rip off of the movie, the possession of Michael king. Audiences including my kids were laughing in the theatre. When big studios hav started making horror flicks like Insidious, Annabelle, The Unborn, The rite, Conjuring, etc. there is no chance of cheesy Hindi horror flicks like these. Anyways I gave a 6 jus for the effort. But some of the scenes were total rip off. Like the scene where the possessed person walks on both legs n hands (the unborn). Even the scene where the spirit enters the body while the person is lying on the bed (cannot recall the name). The mirror thing is getting monotonous. The concept of another world in the mirror is getting stale. The only movie which pulled off the mirror/another world concept was a segment from the movie VHS 2. Another rip off is the one when the images from the photos scream. The black eyes n sealed lips r too getting monotonous. I always wonder, y a possessed person has to do hyperextension of their joints. The movie has nothing new to offer. Worst were the cgi effects. The scene where Sharman n his girlfriend standing in a desert in the middle of nowhere. Too ridiculous man. Even one of my fav scene from one of my fav movie, The Shrine (the statue scene) was badly incorporated in this. The makers of this flick shud watch small budget horror flicks (indie horror) from Hollywood.

And speaks mandarin Chinese. Makes much more sense. I guess I am trying to figure out exactly what the hell this is supposed to be.Seriously? This is an all Indian film, composed of all Indian actors, and it is called 1920 London. Obviously very accurate.Yet conversely people go totally ballistic when Dragon Ball Z and Ghost In A Shell star non Asian actors...and rightly so. This is a stupid concept. In 1920 London was not inhabited entirely of Indian people, strangely enough. Maybe the fact that the English love curry threw you off? Understandable. But still a stupid concept.Cant wait to see roots remade with an all Mexican cast. Or The Muhammad Ali story starring Seth Rogen and Lucy Liu.Anyway, that's my take. Enjoy!