'After Hrs' review: 'Raaz 3'

Film: Raaz 3
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Cast: Bipasha Basu, Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta, Manish Choudhary
Rating: **1/2

Leggy lasses flaunting their toned bodies, a hero who expresses love and angst with the same passion, and lingering kisses leading to steamy romps — Raaz 3 has all the ingredients one has come to expect from movies made by the Bhatts. But this time, they have also thrown in a different realm where “souls are held captive and tortured”. And this realm can only be accessed by a loved one from the place “where the dead and the living meet”. Yes, it is that kind of film!

Chronicling the life of a fading Bollywood heroine Shanaya (Bipasha) who resorts to dark magic to destroy the career of a younger actress Sanjana (Esha), the movie makes ample use of high drama and sound effects — the staple of every horror flick worth its salt. And though there are enough things that go bump in the dark, terrifying screams and other such horrors, real menace is conveyed when Shanaya agrees to go to any length to pull down her unsuspecting rival. As a maggot-eaten finger of a dark spirit called Tara Dutt (Manish) beckons her to “do what a living woman does with a living man”, one cant help but thank the director for sparing us the horror. Seriously!

Assisted by her reluctant but ever complying director boyfriend Aditya (Emraan), Shanaya weaves an evil web that threatens to destroy not just Sanjana’s sanity but also her life. It takes a while for Aditya to shake off Shanaya’s grasp and once he succeeds he is all chivalry and remorse. And yes, he does falls in love with the “wrong woman”. So emotions run high and passion replaces logic as can happen only in the movies. And even as innocent people lose their lives, the media is only interested in why a visibly troubled Sanjana tore off her clothes at a party. Ouch! To his credit, Vikram Bhatt has tried to add punch to the genre that has only been explored halfheartedly in Bollywood. And a few things — Bipasha’s crazed act, Emraan’s understated histrionics and Esha’s vulnerability — work in the film’s favour. What doesn’t work is the complete suspension of logic during the proceedings and the unsatisfying ending.

Worth a watch only if you like your thrills and chills served with a side dish of emotional drama and the promise of more terror along the way.