MACHHLI JAL KI RANI HAI

Shri Wardhman Movie Ventures Pvt. Ltd.’s Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai (A)is a horror film. Ayesha (Swara Bhaskar) and Uday Saxena (Bhanu Uday) are happily married and have a son, Sunny (master Yug Manhoth). Uday’s company transfers him to Jabalpur where a factory has been lying closed since years. The boss wants Uday to revive the factory.

Strange things start happening in the house in which the couple shifts in Jabalpur. Ayesha keeps telling husband Uday that there is something very eerie about the house but Uday is so busy in his factory work that he has no time for what he considers Ayesha’s imaginary tales. There is a death in the factory, too, but Uday dismisses it off as a mere accident and gets on with his mission.

Ayesha’s neighbours are mysterious people belonging to one family comprising the man (Murali Sharma), his wife (Reema Debnath) and little daughter, Guddi (baby Roshni Walia). Ayesha invariably sees the man firing or beating his wife. Guddi often comes to play with Sunny.

One day, Ayesha’s maid servant is brutally murdered in her (Ayesha’s) house and the cause for the killing seems to be a wall hanging. The police begin to investigate the case even as Ayesha is convinced, it is one more proof of the eeriness of the house.

Before long, Ayesha herself starts behaving strangely as if she is possessed by a ghost. One day, she leaves Sunny in the house with Guddi while she goes to Uday’s factory. Once in the factory, she learns of a truth which shakes her beyond imagination. She fears the worst for Sunny.

What is the truth which comes to Ayesha’s notice? Is Sunny safe with Guddi? Why has Ayesha started to behave like a possessed woman?

Nattasha Rana and Sailesh Pratap Singh’s story is a routine horror tale with no semblance of novelty. The screenplay, penned by Debaloy Dey, follows the tried and tested path of horror dramas and although there are a few scary scenes, the lack of novelty in the film makes it predictable and brings in complacency among the viewers. Also, the screenplay wastes quite a lot of time to come to the point as before that, there is always fear in the air but not much happening in reality. Overall, the horror scenes do have an impact but because they are like what one has seen in a number of horror films earlier, the audience does not get the satisfaction of having viewed something differently exciting. Dialogues (Rakesh Sharma and Sailesh Pratap Singh) are okay.

Swara Bhaskar is a natural actress and she does a fine job of Ayesha’s character. She gives her cent per cent to the role. Her costumes are quite bad. Bhanu Uday does well in the role of Uday Saxena and lends his character the required maturity. Murali Sharma leaves a mark in a brief role. As his wife, Reema Debnath has her moments in a tiny role. Deepraj Rana makes his presence felt as Ugra. Hemant Pandey provides a couple of comic moments in the role of Rajaram. Master Yug Manhoth (as Sunny) and baby Roshni Walia (as Guddi) lend able support. Saurabh Dubey performs well as Ayesha’s father. Binny Sharma (as the mandli dancer), Hritu Dudhani (as the possessed girl), Tarun Shukla (as Chaube), Sakha Kalyani (as Mangala), Abhinav Jain (as the police inspector), Avinash Mukanwar (as Dr. Indraneel), Sandesh Nayak (as Ismail), Rasham Thakkar (as Neonika), Nirvikar Yadav (as Rakesh), Anadi (as Kajal), Sanjay Tripathi (as the knife sharpener), Rajesh Dandotiya (as CSP, Jabalpur), Paresh Panchal (as Ugra’s family member), Shruti Shrivastav (as Uday’s mother), Nilesh (as Uday’s father), Prashant (as the man who dies in the factory), Navanshu Jain (as the pub singer), Rakesh Sharma (as the mandli singer) and the others provide the required support.

Debaloy Dey’s direction is good but the routineness of the drama is something even his narration has not been able to overcome. Amit Mishra’s music is okay and the same can be said about his background score. Lyrics (Amit Mishra and Puneet Sharma) are routine. Choreography (by Jojo Khan and Shabina Khan) is functional. Mahendra Pradhan’s camerawork is quite nice. P.K. Swain’s action and stunt scenes are reasonably good. Bhushan Rawool’s sets are okay. Aseem Sinha’s editing is suitably sharp.

On the whole, Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai is a fairly well-made film but lack of novelty on the one hand and limited promotion and too much opposition on the other will greatly restrict its ability to do much at the box-office. In fact, it may go largely unnoticed at the box-office because of the aforementioned problem areas.