Shaitaan review: Vikas Bahl's raw yet tiring horror debut is salvaged by Madhavan, Janki Bodiwala's chilling acts

Director: Vikas Bahl

Cast: Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan, Jyotika, Janki Bodiwala

Where to watch: Theatres

Rating: 3 stars

Vikas Bahl has left no opportunity to point out that before Shaitaan, he has never attempted to direct anything in the horror genre. The filmmaker is known more for his slice-of-life dramas and yes, the genre shift is a big one. But the first half of Shaitaan gives you no such indication. It is a tight, tense, and disturbing horror thriller filled with some commendable performances. But then, Bahl lets it slip post interval and in a bid to go epic and grand (and even more disturbing), turns a taut thriller into a loose run-of-the-mill horror show. It’s only the film’s principal cast that makes the film more than watchable.

Shaitaan is the story of a family of four (Ajay Devgn, Jyotika, Janki Bodiwala, Anngad Raaj) on their way to their holiday home in Uttarakhand. They meet a mysterious stranger Vanraj (Madhavan in his most menacing avatar) who hypnotises the daughter (Janki) as part of a larger nefarious plan. What follows is the couple’s desperate attempts to save their daughter in a horrific, unpredictable cat-and-mouse chase.

The USP of Shaitaan is its cast and its ambience. The setting is dark, dull, and almost claustrophobic. The rain pattering down outside as Vanraj inflicts torture after torture upon this hapless family makes you anxious, which is the filmmaker’s intention. You need to be out of your comfort zone to truly fear Vanraj and feel for the Rishi family. And it works for a while. The opening montage is short but effective enough to help us connect with this happy family. That connection is needed so that we get disgusted when Vanraj unleashes is sadism upon them.

But Shaitaan threatens to get overbearing after a while, almost descending into torture porn category a couple of times. The treatment of the torture inflicted upon a teenage girl is slightly questionable, if not outright alarming. But the performances of both Madhavan and Janki Bodiwala make sure that it never gets truly disgusting.

Madhavan is menacing, evil, and delightful at the same time. The actor utilises his full range in a character that any actor would give an arm and a leg for. Janki rises up to the occasion, shoulder to shoulder with much more seasoned actors, perfectly balancing her character Janvi’s helplessness and puppet-like devotion. It is not often that an actor of Ajay Devgn’s calibre is reduced to the sidelines but that does happen on many occasions in Shaitaan. And mind you, by no means is Ajay bad or even average here. He is good. It’s just that Madhavan and Janki are, at times, splendid. Jyotika, in her first Hindi film in 25 years, is also a class act.

Shaitaan could have been a great intimate horror film had it remained confined within the four walls of the Rishi family’s holiday home. The house serves as a character almost, confining the characters, trapping them, and increasing the tension and anxiety. So the choice of getting out of the place in the second half and suddenly enlarging the scale to something epic does not sit right. The climax seems like something out of another film as the story does not build up to it very organically.

Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam act in the second half brings him into the centre of the narrative, quite seamlessly using Easter eggs from the first half and including callbacks to tiny elements from earlier in the story. It is smart writing indeed but makes the film slightly complex.

For a horror thriller, the film contains few moments that truly get to you, save one during the climax and one in an epilogue. But those are largely moments designed to make you sit up and clap or gasp, probably not scream in terror though. Shaitaan is saved by its short runtime and the performances, which keep you engaged throughout. Vikas Bahl’s first jab at horror is a worthy effort but one that could have been a tad bit better for the subject matter he had.