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Rate episode 62: "Officer Purvi's Narrow Escape"
Image credit: Eros EntertainmentAs excuses for setting films in apartments go, there's nothing quite like agoraphobia, the anxiety disorder whose victims get panic attacks at the prospect of being in strange places and situations, and, in extreme cases, even leaving their homes.
In Phobia, Mahek (Radhika Apte) develops such a love for the four walls of her home after an sexual assault by a taxi driver. Her friend and admirer Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) persuades her to move into a furnished apartment where a young woman named Jiah had once lived before disappearing. Shaan feels that it would be therapeutic for the deeply disturbed Mahek to live on her own in a new place, but he hasn't accounted for the creepy neighbour Manu (Ankur Vikal), the excess of reflective surfaces, and the strange noises that emanate from the drainpipe. The apartment also has a bathtub - a sign of truly horrific luxury in our drought-ridden times.
A diary belonging to Jiah further stokes Mahek's imagination, and it's only a matter of time before she is convinced that a malevolent spirit is sharing her space. Tormented and yet too terrified to leave the house, Mahek persuades her bright-eyed neighbour Nikki (Yashaswini Dayama) to help her snoop around the place.
Meanwhile, poor Shaan, in the time-honoured tradition of horror movie boyfriends who wished they were in a romantic drama instead, reins in his desire for Mahek and tries to help her regain her sanity.
There's a touch of Roman Polanski's Repulsion to the dynamics between Mahek and Shaan, and several nods to other genre staples. Director Pavan Kripalani, who made his debut with the frightfest Ragini MMS (2011), piles on a fair share of genuine scares, most of which are delivered through the sudden cuts so dear to this kind of movie (the editing is by Pooja Ladha Surti, who has also written the chatty dialogue) and a background score that cues in fear and anxiety. Faces flash before Mahek's terrified eyes, the sounds set her on edge, and every door is a portal to a new kind of fear.
Kripalani also finds unexpected humour in Mahek's occasionally overblown reaction to her new surroundings. But the movie's gender politics are not mined deeply enough, and Shaan's predicament over Mahek lacks that one extra layer of sexual tension that would madePhobia a worthy successor to Repulsion. The smartest idea in the 94-minute thriller comes in the climax, in which Kripalani dexterously reveals the real reason for Mahek's agoraphobia.
The set-up is convincing, and Radhika Apta's central performance as Mahek makes it doubly so. Apte has been steadily building up an impressive portfolio of performances, and she is in top form in Phobia. Mahek is no scream queen waiting to be consumed by the ghost in the living room, but a lively, intelligent and curious woman who presses on with her quest despite her escalating terror out of a sense of moral duty to discover what exactly happened to Jiah. The talented actress is in nearly every frame of the movie, and she shines whether she's being petulant or plain terrified. Apte is amply backed up by Satyadeep Mishra and Yashaswini Dayama, whose chirpy turn is unlikely to go unnoticed.
http://scroll.in/article/808781/mamata-banerjee-is-the-perfect-realisation-of-the-communists-class-politics-and-their-worst-fears
SPOILERS AHEAD
A 'horror' film with a marked difference, Phobia juggles with familiar elements of the genre - fear, shock, surprise, mystery - with a steady sense of thematic purpose.
Pavan Kirpalani's third directorial venture (after Ragini MMS and Darr @ the Mall) is spine-chilling enough not to call too much attention to its inherent whimsicalities and the attendant slip-ups.
Whatever flaws there are in the film - and there are many for sure - are offset by a riveting performance by Radhika Apte as a successful painter who has more than just the ravages of a psychological disorder to contend with.
A sexual assault survivor, the film's female protagonist is an independent-spirited artist Mehek Deo who is trapped and terrorized by sounds and apparitions in a high-rise apartment. 
She is unable to leave this constricted, terror-inducing space because she is petrified of stepping out into the open.
Even hauling the garbage bags across the landing to the bin at the end of the passage is a chore that reduces Mehek to a wreck.
The dimly-lit interiors of the flat hold a slew of horrors - blood-curdling sounds emanate from its walls, lights crackle and flicker ominously, a severed finger shows up in the freezer, and a bloodied body crawls out of the bathtub, among other unspeakable things.
With these basic narrative pieces in place, the director builds a nerve wracking drama that probes an agoraphobic woman's fightback in the face of grave mental and emotional stress.
Phobia is a taut and evocatively filmed psychological thriller about a woman whose mind plays terrible tricks on her, but it is equally about the hostile, predatory world that she is a part of and feels threatened by.
So her battle with the demons within mirror her fight with the ones that haunt her outside.
Mehek believes that the house she lives in is the site where the previous occupant, another woman, was murdered and she suspects the mysterious giggly, wide-eyed architect next door, Mannu (Ankur Vikal) of perpetrating that heinous crime.
Late in the second half, the protagonist, her baffled boyfriend Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) and a chirpy young neighbour Nikki (Yashashvini Dayama) get together to perform a sance in order to summon the spirit that they think is hovering over the house.
Kirpalani does well not to turn Phobia to a maze of pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo, preferring instead to keep the drama boiling within the realms of pop psychology.
One might dismiss some of the plot premises as too conveniently simplistic, but the context that Phobia creates for the heroine's unstable state of mind ties in perfectly with her fierce distrust of men as a tribe.
There is a reference in the plot - it comes from Mehek's elder sister Anusha (Nivedita Bhattacharya) - to a fall that she suffered as a child from the first floor of a building.
That leads to a question: is that blow to the head acting up now and pushing her into a dark abyss that neither she nor her shrink can fathom?
But that aspect of the tale is quickly swept into the background as a more traumatic experience during a taxi ride rattles Mehek. It leaves a scar on her soul that refuses to go away.
There are parts of the film that are left unexplained. Among them is the pivotal bit about the heroine's psychic powers that enable her to see what lies ahead in the immediate 'future'.
The climax of Phobia, which unfolds in the course of a long Diwali night, hinges on this ability of the protagonist and it might have helped the film's cause had there been a more logical basis for it.
Be that as it may, Phobia is a genuinely scary film. This despite the fact that it is neither about malevolent ghosts out for vengeance nor about the destructive undead on a rampage.
Phobia opens with an art exhibition where Mehek Deo's paintings are on display. The film ends with a freeze frame of a particular painting that is revealed to the audience at the very outset.
This artwork serves as the opening and closing brackets within which the protagonist's harrowing tale is condensed - it provides the film's thematic bedrock and raises it way above the level of an average scarefest.
Phobia wouldn't be half the film it is without the mercurial Radhika Apte. Watching her on the screen as emotions flash across her visage is an unalloyed delight.
For the most part, the film is hers alone, and the camera revels in capturing the character's innermost feelings on her malleable face and expressive eyes.
It is like being witness to a solo pantomime act in which a world of sensations is conveyed without a word being uttered.
Phobia is a canny flick that places known genre conventions in fresh light, the kind that bestows new life on them.
Watch this film for the many surprises it springs and, of course, for Radhika Apte in full flow.
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/phobia-movie-review-1269
It's not easy to make a horror film that is different from the usual tantrik-chudail stuff and make something that can connect with the masses. Pawan Kripalani tried with his first film Ragini MMS and succeeded to an extent. Does Phobia repeat the act or better his first attempt? Read on to find out...
What's it about
Loosely based on a little known English flick by the same name, the film deals with a rare psychological condition called agoraphobia. Mahek (Radhika Apte) is the victim, who suffers from the problem after she was sexually assaulted by a taxi driver. She is scared to go out in public spaces and is intimidated to meet new people. After her elder sister is fed up of these new turn of events, Mahek's boyfriend (Satyadeep Mishra) takes her to a flat in Malad. The previous occupant of the flat has gone absconding, and her fiance, also happens to be her neighbor (Ankur Vikal) is a creepy guy who laughs maniacally. At her home, Mahek hears strange voices and sees disturbing visions. Her boyfriend feels her condition is just aggravating, but she is sure it has something to do with missing case of the previous occupant. Is she right about what she thinks? Or is it her phobia that's making her imagine stuff?
What's hot
Having not seen a good horror movie from our stables for a long time, I was genuinely surprised by the scares the film had in store for me, especially in the first half. The premise is a novel theme for the Indian audiences, especially the subject of agoraphobia. Pawan Kripalani does a great job in setting up Mahek's unusual ailment. Whenever she has these panic attacks, its like even we feel her fear, her insecurities. Special mention must also go to the camerawork and the background score. A couple of scenes did make me jump, and the suspense was definitely nail biting. The interval scene will definitely scare the hell out of you. However, nothing would have worked if the director had cast an inferior talent in the lead role. That's where Radhika Aptescores. She is simply terrific as the woman who is scared of stepping out of her house, as well as staying inside. If it was not for her performance, we would not have felt the fear, the film wants to instil in us. As her sympathetic yet desperate boyfriend, Satyadeep Mishra is a natural, while Ankur Vikal is aptly cast as the creepy guy. The unexpected turn in the latter's arc was hilarious. That's another thing I appreciated about the movie. Even though its a psychological thriller, there are some genuinely funny moments.
What's not
Remember those Aahat stories which were divided into two episodes, with the first one being thrilling and second a let down? This is what I felt after going through the second half of Phobia. The brilliant setup of the plot and some real scares in the first half were let down by a stretched and haphazard second half. Except for one scene that went the Paranormal Activity way, none of the scares worked. Though the mystery of the missing girl was concluded in an unexpected way, the scenes after just play with your patience and adds to your confusion. In fact, we are not even sure what the director wants to say about Mahek's predicament. I don't want to spoil stuff here, but the conclusion was a definite let down and a total disappointment. The abstract symbolisms in the end only makes us scratch our heads more.
What to do
Phobia had the potential of being one of those rare Bollywood psychological thriller's that you can proudly recommend to your friends. A genuinely claustrophobic first half and Radhika Apte's fantastic performance were its aces. However the limp second half only demotes its status to a decent thriller.
Our rating
This Friday, you have slew of movies releasing, which certainly include the Radhika starrer film called Phobia. The film is psychological thriller is directed by Pawan Kripalani the Raigni MMS famed filmmaker, which is produced by Viki Rajani under the banner of Eros International along with Next Gen Films and it is all set to hit the theatres tomorrow. The film is seen some amount of buzz in the media considering its scary trailer released in the media. The audience liking this genre would certainly like the film as claimed by the makers, well, let's dig in deep into Phobia and get the crux of the same as under:
The Plot
The lady in the central role of Mehek played by Radhika Apte is scared of going out of her home considering her scary sexually assault in the past in the past. She has a phobia of getting out called Agoraphobia, which makes her feel that she would face the same experience as occurred in her darker past. However, living locked inside her home also becomes unbearable as well as she is constantly get a feeling that she is attacked apart from feeling a number of spine chilling incidents including a cut finger inside the ice box that catches her in a limbo of phobias and fear.
Review
The Raigni MMS fame director Pawan Kriplani is once again back with his psycho thriller drama film. Once again he has tried to horrify the audience with a number of spine chilling sequences in the movie keeping RadhikaApte at the center. In fact, as you catch up this film and compare with the previous one, the director seems to have gone one step ahead in making a scary film which will definitely going to give tremors around their chair. You have a girl in suffering from agoraphobia. The film has a series of sequences, which the lady lives with, hence it may be interesting to catch the film provided you love this genre of films, and otherwise it would be a sheer waste of time. At times you may find the film becoming predictable, however, looking at the over picture there are loads of confusion about things happening around the character giving the audience reason to get glued to their chair to catch the film till the climax.
Now, talking about the performance, Radhika Apte seems to have done an impressive performance over the silver screen. Perhaps with similar characters played in her earlier movies, she seems to have mastered the character that come along with professionalism and dexterity. Her character has loads of variation in terms of emotions having the scare and fear dominating, which she seems to have done justice while playing the character of Mehek in the film. Besides Radhika Apte, you have actors like Satyadeep Mishra, Yashaswini Dayama and Ankur Vikal playing a number of important characters in the film, which have been perfectly showcased by them thereby boosting up the entertainment value of the movie. The other elements like music, direction, screenplay and technical elements like editing seemed okay, which somehow managed to boost up the entertainment value.
http://www.justbollywood.in/phobia-movie-review-psychological-thriller-limited-content-rich-performance-apte-will-impress-audience/
And What a scare! #Phobia featuring @satyadeepmisra is a film for the theaters.so good he is so good ! happy for my brother sattu
#Phobia featuring te lovely @radhika_apte is a film for the theaters Kudos! Her skill has so much conviction; it makes the film real...
Good thrillers in Indian cinema are hard to come by #Phobia a must watch guys !!!! Sharp & super tense loved it @vikirajani @radhika_apte
#Phobia is brilliantly directed by Pavan Kriplani and watch out for @satyadeepmisra who is superb in the film too!
#Phobia scares the hell out of u and keeps u guessing! Terrific psychological thriller! @radhika_apte is MINDBLOWING! Bravo @vikirajani
@radhika_apte is the anchor around which #Phobia snakes and slithers. She is child like, paranoid, sexy all at the same time. WOW! SEE IT
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