Ek Thi Daayan (2013)

I saw this with my family in theatre in 2013. As a fan of horror movies this film was worth the time n money. It started like a psychological drama about a magician performing tricks who is having hallucinations bah his dead sister. It is a very creepy film with eerie ambiance. The supernatural aspect was properly dealt with. The old abandoned house, especially the elevator was truly eerie. Later thru hypnosis we come to know that the lead character is paranoid bah his step mother being a witch. It has a decent twist towards the end. The movie was engaging and suspenseful. Emraan Hashmi acted well. He was lucky to b surrounded by three hot females in this film. Konkana gave a good creepy performance. Horror fans will not be disappointed.

I watched this movie after hearing a radio advertisement touting Emraan Hashmi as the male lead and it being a genuinely creepy Indian horror film. I found it to be satisfying enough, though not as scary or intense as I originally thought. It is a nice psychological thriller dealing with the age-old Subcontinental myth of the 'Picchal Peri", the witch that supposedly has turned-around feet, and haunts men and children mainly at night, when there is a lunar eclipse. I also found some unmistakable tints of casting women as being capable of having evil powers and control over men, another age-old widely held belief in a lot of world cultures. I must admit, I personally find the idea of a FEMALE demon much more terrifying than any male demon anytime!! I do not know the reason for this, maybe some other readers could expand on this psychology. Having said that, it is an absorbing tale of a little boy who has trouble accepting a new mother into the household, and who firmly believes that she is in actuality a Daayan. Psychologists dismiss it as being a classical case of trying to cope with changes in family circumstances on the child's part, but as we soon find out, there is more to the kids' claim than mere imagination and coping difficulties. The special effects are nice, nothing too gory or scary, but just subtle enough touches to induce a bit of nervousness and fascination in the audiences. The songs are nice, and Emraan Hashmi for once does not serially lip-kiss all of his female co-stars!! That is a nice change. The climax is quite absorbing and the final ending, quite satisfying. I will recommend this movie to all horror/psychological thriller fans out there. Do watch it, at least once.

For an audience that has gotten used to spooky flicks that range from scary to sorcery, flying ghosts, witches, sudden shock element, etc., it is incredibly tough to come up with something new. This is especially true of Bollywood that has seen an overdose of Ram Gopal Verma flicks. Amidst all the gloom comes a refreshing 'Ek Thi Daayan' with a gripping story, although the climax goes tad haywire.Magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) is a successful magician who suddenly is being troubled by strange visions. When hypnotized, it is revealed that he holds a dark secret to how his sister and father died and the story being the spooky elevator in the building where he lived as a child. The more he seems to dig into the past to unearth its antecedents, the deeper he gets into the mystic world. Not any more should be revealed about the story because it is a worthy suspense. The first thing I did after watching 'Ek Thi Daayan' was to Google out the difference between a 'Chudail' and a 'Daayan'. As it turns out from a random web page, a 'Chudail' is an ugly demon that emerges when a woman dies during childbirth and lives in remote areas. A 'Daayan' is a beautiful enchantress that has become one on account of harassment during her lifetime and therefore attacks men and usually lives in urban areas. Whoa, who could ever guess that!!Some of its songs are impressive. The best of those is 'Yaaram' that's performed at the housewarming hosted by Lisa, followed by the eerie 'Lautungi Main' but Punjabi flavored 'Totey Ud Gaye' sounds lame. A few more impressive numbers could have carried 'Ek Thi Daayan' even further. The choice of locations is impressive. The opening scenes are filmed at Gurgaon's "Kingdom of Dreams" which stages an extravaganza of sound and light with impressive transitions, a must see for those visiting the region. The locations for the eerie home and the lift are neat too. The hypnotic background in the psychiatrist's office is an interesting piece of decor and serves as a backdrop to some key scenes. Talking about acting performances, Emraan Hashmi does what is best at. It's amazing that despite such type-cast roles and similar performance in all films, his movies still work well at the Box Office. But, Konkona is the better actor in this film. Kalki and Huma Qureishi also do reasonably well. The Verdict: Unfortunately, not much of the story can be discussed in a review without revealing a bit of the suspense. So, if you want to know what it is, it is better to catch it while it is still in the cinema halls. This is surely not a movie that you could wait till it comes on TV. Although one shouldn't watch it with exalted hopes, since it fizzles out towards the end, you wouldn't regret watching it at all.

Review : We were invited to the Ek Thi Daayan movie premier. We went to the premier without high expectations, and boy I was surprised! I haven't seen the trailer either. After a great hype on the movie it was a great outcome at the end. Story was very riveting.This film is paced quite slowly but thanks to the originality of the story we're kept interested however this movie could have easily been a bit shorter to quicken things up more. Director could have done a better job, he was inconsistent, the lack of experience in the field of direction was visible.The story was very fascinating. Thanks to the writers, it's not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry (story), the plot stands out of them all… The biggest part of a Thriller movie is its Climax and I must say the climax was Baaang-On. I was Flabbergasted to be frank.The plot is unique, in that it relies on imagination and psychology to scare you and make you think twice about the world around you. I genuinely did not know about the ending until it was revealed. Quite a shock!Emraan Hashmi turns in a stellar performance, complimenting his co-stars while never overshadowing them. It is a tribute to his respect of the material in so much as he fine tunes his delivery to seem reserved, yet not too toned down. It is such a relief that the performances of Hashmi and the excellent Kalki live up to an excellently written quality storyline.As for the twist at the end? Well it totally disoriented me, my mind spinning back throughout the whole film.To be honest, the biggest minus of the movie is the director himself, the booooooring second half is completely his fault . He tried to experiment a lot, which was un-called for.Cast Performance : Emraan Hashmi : Undoubtedly, its one of his best works and his performance stands out of all the casts. He is the one who carried the whole movie on his shoulders.Konkona Sen Sharma : Did a fantastic job and was justifiable enough. She did live up to the expectations.Kalki Koechlin : Her part was a bit confusing, her character was a bit messy but she did a splendid job.Huma Qureshi She could have done a better Job….Huma Qureshi : She did a decent job. A mixed performance.Indian Box Office Online Verdict : If you don't mind a slow pace then this unique little gem is very rewarding. At the end of the day, ''Its not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry, the plot stands out of them all, it's surely is an Experimental Plot, but not written by an Idiot."