Agyaat
Friday, August 07, 2009 11:37 IST
By Subhash K Jha, Santa Banta News Network
/> Starring Nitin Reddy, Priyanka Kothari
Directed by Ram Gopal Varma
Rating: ** ½

Jungle fever has never been more contagious. Every corner of the Sri Lankan jungle as shot with mesmeric skill by the cinematographer Surjodeep Ghosh is filled with danger.

There lurks a diabolic unknown (agyaat) monster in the treacherous greenery.Ram Gopal Varma has always been a master of manipulative terror. His camara range is constantly petrifying amd persistently resonant.

The sequences in Agyaat are ceaselessly shot in a way that suggests the presence of lethal characters and entities whom we and the people on screen cannot see.Only feel.

In this endeavour to evoke ghoulish visions of omnipresent danger Varma is vastly aided by the sound design.

Sound designers Dwarak Warrier and Leslie Fernandes go easy on the eerie sounds and beguiling banshees.

Instead there are chilling eruptions of noises that you probably hear in the wilderness but don't pay attention to as being anything remarkable.

The sound includes snatches from Hemant Kumar Mukherjee's immortal Kahin deep jale kahin dil from that old shiver giver Bees Saal Baad.

That was bees saal baad. This is well into the new millennium. The perils of modern life such as cut-throat competitiveness often lead to the throat being literally cut.

Who knows who's doing the film unit in Agyaat (a a far cry—and scream—from Vidhu Vinod Chopra's imperiled film unit in Khamosh) ? Maybe it's their own fears and ambitions that are killing them.

The crew's calm cinematographer (Kali Prasad Mukherjee) finally commits suicide. The spoilt bratty superstar's spotboy (Ishteyak) is pulled into a gruesome death even as he chants mantras to protect himself.

While in Varma's previous comparatively-tacky horror outing Phoonk, God felled the Devil, in Agyaat nothing works. You are doomed in the jungle.

No force can protect you. As one member after another of the film-within-film gets eliminated Varma seems to be spoofing spooking and spiking Agatha Christie's 10 Little Indians (made into Gumnam in Hindi).

There are dollops of tantalizing irony in the way the typical and tight hierarchy in a film unit evaporates as imminent peril puts the people into perilous positions.

The repressed spotboy's outburst against the spoilt superstar (Gautam Rode, every inch the despicable brat) is a masterly manoeuvre designed to show how fear melts all class differences.

Portions of the brief supernatural whodunit is unintentionally funny. But all said and bodies dumped, Agyaat gives us enough spinechilling moments to make us wonder at the end, who the hell is killing all these people???

The grisly plot weaves in humane moments. Hindi debutant Nitin Reddy (confident, honest and with a skilful body language extended into the jungle ruggedness) and his assistant Sameera (Rasika Duggal, cute) have this very believable bum-chum bonding that perhaps Shah Rukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor from Dil To Pagal Hai would recognize.

But then they wouldn't be vaught dead (oops!) in this chilling and ominous jungle.
Movie:
Agyaat
Reviewed by:
Subhash K Jha
on
and Rated:
0/5
I Want To Talk Movie Review - A Bittersweet Tale of Grief, Hope, and Resilience!

Shoojit Sircar's films often delve deep into themes of grief, death, and the enduring hope that arises from life's darkest moments. His latest film, I Want To Talk, follows in the footsteps of his previous works like Piku and October, exploring loneliness, the

Friday, November 22, 2024
'The Sabarmati Report' Review - A Riveting Tale of Media, Politics, and the Godhra Tragedy!

Vikrant Massey makes a striking return to the big screen with The Sabarmati Report, a gripping film that revisits one of the most debated events in India's recent history'the Godhra train

Saturday, November 16, 2024
Devara - Part 1 Makes Waves at the Box Office with Rs. 77 Crore Opening Day Collection!

Devara: Part 1 made a remarkable entrance at the box office on its opening day, grossing Rs 77 crore across all languages, as reported by industry tracker Sacnilk. The action drama, directed by

Saturday, September 28, 2024
Taaza Khabar Season 2 Review - A Missed Opportunity for Freshness!

The highly anticipated Taaza Khabar Season 2 featuring Bhuvan Bam returns with his character Vasant Gawde, diving into the world of fresh news updates. Alongside Bam, the show

Friday, September 27, 2024
Yudhra Review - A Bumpy Ride Through Action and Chaos!

Ehsaan Loy composing the music, all the elements seem to point to a cinematic success. However, in 2024, audiences have become harder to impress, and despite these heavyweights, Yudhra fails

Saturday, September 21, 2024
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT