RAAZ REBOOT

T-Series and Vishesh Films’ Raaz Reboot (A) is the fourth horror film in the Raaz franchise.

Rehan Khanna (Gaurav Arora) and Shaina (Kriti Kharbanda) are a married couple. They had met, fallen in love and gotten married in Romania and had then gone away to India. They have now returned to Romania after living for some time in India. It is on Shaina’s insistence that they have moved to Romania. Frankly, Rehan wasn’t in favour of relocating. There is, therefore, tension between the two when they land in Romania on 1st January, 2016.

Shaina feels, there is something that Rehan is not sharing with her, and she thinks, that’s the reason for the tension between them. She asks him in so many words and tells him to share with her the secret he is hiding from her, but Rehan is unrelenting. Also, Shaina wants to start a family but Rehan doesn’t want to. The differences surface so obviously that Rehan decides to sleep in a different bedroom and he continues to do so every night.

Strange things begin to happen to Shaina in the new house in Romania. It is soon clear that there is a spirit in the house, which has possessed Shaina. However, Rehan doesn’t believe his wife when she tells him that there is a ghost in the house. Rehan confides in his friends, Aman (Hargun Grover) and Shreya (Suzanna Mukherjee). The three of them then meet a pyschometric expert, Trilok (Ashwath Bhatt), who confirms that Shaina is possessed.

Meanwhile, one day, Shaina bumps into her ex-boyfriend, Aditya (Emraan Hashmi), who wins her confidence by revealing all that has happened to her in the new house. He tells her that he has been getting strange dreams about Shaina and has, in those dreams, been seeing all the terrible things transpiring in her life. Shaina trusts him when he tries to help her. He even takes her to a tarot card reader but the tarot card reader is not able to help much.

What happens thereafter? Whose spirit has entered Shaina’s body? Is there really a secret which Rehan is hiding from Shaina? Is Shaina freed from the clutches of the spirit?

Vikram Bhatt has written a predic­table and half-baked story which relies on clichéd incidents to take it forward. The suspense angle in the story is the only novel part although it excites the viewers only upto a point. Vikram Bhatt’s screenplay is one of convenience. Why Rehan is so indifferent towards his wife is not clear, especially because he knows something which she does not know. This should have been a reason for him to actually treat her well. What’s more, even after it is established beyond doubt that Shaina is possessed, Rehan’s coldness and in­difference towards her doesn’t change – which seems a bit too weird. Why, Rehan doesn’t even bother to sleep in the same room as Shaina after knowing that the ghost is terrifying her. Again, Shaina taking so much time to believe Aditya when he tells her every single strange happening in the house, seems rather silly. Actually, the screenplay gives the impression to the audience that both, Rehan and Shaina, are doing exactly what they shouldn’t be doing in the given circumstances. Trilok, the psychometric expert, is brought in again, for the second time, in spite of the fact that he had effectively said that he wouldn’t be able to help further if he is disturbed the first time – which is what has actually hapened. Although there are a couple of horror scenes which scare the viewers, they lack novelty. The climax, with the characters reading the shlokas one after another, is not half as convincing as it ought to have been. Girish Dhamija’s dialogues are commonplace.

Emraan Hashmi does an ordinary job. He does not have a full-fledged role and this will not go down well with the audience which will come in expecting him to have the lengthiest role. Emraan doesn’t look fresh in the film. Gaurav Arora makes an average debut as Rehan Khanna. Kriti Kharbanda is so-so in her maiden Bollywood attempt. She looks quite good. Ashwath Bhatt lends ordinary support in the role of the blind psychometrist. Suzanna Mukherjee and Hargun Grover are adequate as Rehan’s friends.

Vikram Bhatt’s direction is fair but there’s not much he has been able to do about the deficiencies in the script. Jeet Ganguly and Sangeet-Siddharth Haldipur’s music is good but far from being hit. The title track (Jeet Ganguly) is tuneful and melodious. Lyrics (Rashmi Virag and Kausar Munir) are routine. Raju Singh’s background music passes muster. Manoj Soni’s camerawork doesn’t stand out. Razvan Puiu’s stunts are routine. Oana Marinescu’s production designing is alright. Kuldip Mehan’s editing is okay.

On the whole, Raaz Reboot is a dull and predictable fare and has little for the class audience and families but it offers some entertainment for the masses. If, in spite of its routine script, it will manage to do fair business in the first weekend in the mass-frequented cinemas, it will be due to the franchise value of the film more than anything else. Overall, collections will not sustain for too many days, even in single-screen cinemas.