Phobia movie review thread - Page 3

Phobia movie review: Radhika Apte doesn't put a foot wrong as she goes about scaling it up gradually

Phobia movie review: The Radhika Apte starrer is genuinely frightener, so far away from those unintentionally comic monstrosities it keeps slinging out, that you feel like cheering.

Movie Review: Phobia' is Frighteningly Good!

• 0

Handout photo: Actor Radhika Apte in Phobia

Phobia makes for a nerve-wracking ride. It sucks you into the world of artiste Mehak (Radhika Apte) who suffers from an anxiety disorder called agoraphobia, following a sexual assault by a cab driver. The disorder is to do with fear unfamiliar spaces and can immobilise a person to an extent that they'd not even step out of their own home. Even as her sister debates if Mehak needs institutional care her close friend Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) relocates her to a friend's strange, artistically run down house. It is peopled by a black cat, the ghost of a dead woman and apparitions and spirits rising up from a bath tub. Then there are many whispers and voices rising up from the drainpipe. If that wasn't enough there's a weird neighbour Manu (Ankur Vikal) who is seeking laughter therapy to rid himself of his own anxieties and a kooky lady searching for a non-existent husband.

In a nutshell all the usual claptraps of a horror film. No wonder you begin to question things rather rationally--why did the friend shift her to the strange house (don't most families in horror films do this out of sheer necessity of plot?) or why leave her all alone when she has a history of illness (another convenient contrivance of the plot). Why this wilful courting of trouble? All to take the story and chills and thrills forward? But then in Phobia nothing might quite be what it seems. The film uses the handy tools and devices of scary movies and turns them on the head in the smart twist of a climax. Of course the finale leaves many questions unanswered, leaves things unexplained and can make many in the audience feel utterly befuddled. A close reading of the script might even reveal many a sloppy plothole but the overriding feeling of fear is so consistently maintained that you forget everything else. Phobia is relentlessly scary. It's as though you are living within the mind of Mehak, her unending claustrophobia and suffocation become your own. There is just one small window of comic relief in the film"a sance scene, a desperate attempt to call the spirits and talk to the dead. And just when you relax and laugh through your jolts and shocks it again puts you back in the panic mode.

Much of the terror resides in Radhika Apte's eyes. She is the film, all by herself, that too in just a single setting. The film draws on the essential horror from her. The performance is an external manifestation of the workings of her inner mind. And Radhika she is sensational as a woman living with her own demons"be it fighting with her sister or being flirtatious with friends, slurring on her speech or travelling miles (metaphorically) to leave garbage bag just outside her house. Or just being radiantly vulnerable. In her we get a radically inventive scream queen. All hail her!

Director: Pawan Kripalani

Starring: Radhika Apte, Satyadeep Mishra, Ankur Vikal

Run time: 1 hour 39 minutes

The new releases Phobia, Veerapan and Waiting opened to a very dull response with the first named registering 2-3% collections and Veerapan getting up to 7-8% due to 10% plus response in single screens in Maharashtra and Central India. Single screens in North and East are as bad as the multiplexes. Waiting was as Phobia but with lowere screen count.

There was another release Fredrick and with a name like that nothing more than washout collections could be expected. Not that titles of Phobia, Veerapan and Waiting are much better. Veerapan will have the best collections on day one but they will be very low and there is not much hope afterwards as these sort of films hold little appeal outside places around Maharashtra.

Director: Pavan Kripalani

Cast: Radhika Apte, Satyadeep Mishra, Ankur Vikal, Yashaswini Dayama

Have you ever seen a person suffering from acrophobia? Well, if not in real life, you would have surely seen one on-screen. Remember 1993 cult film Damini' that starred Meenakshi Seshadri? The story takes form when an unfortunate incident (where she sees a girl being raped) changes her life forever. She is even deemed mentally ill by the lawyer played by late Amrish Puri. The subject of Director Pavan Kripalani's Phobia deals with the issue where a person has an extreme or irrational fear that causes panic attacks and keeps the person away from their loved ones.

Mahek Rao (Radhika Apte), an artist by profession, suffers from acrophobia. One of her symptoms portrayed in the film is an intense and irrational fear of the things around her. Her boyfriend Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) and sister played by Nivedita Bhattacharya, come to rescue her and take Mahek to a therapist but to no avail. Soon after, Shaan shifts Mahek into his friend's apartment where she starts living alone to overcome her phobia. Later, Mahek discovers that her ex-flatmate Jiah, was brutally killed by her neighbour Manu (Ankur Vikal) who still lives next door. With the help of another neighbour Nikki (Yashasvini Dayama), the two set out on a mission to find out the truth behind the murder, but there is a shocking twist to the story to the story that will surprise you.

Directed by Pavan Kripalani, Phobia' has all the elements of a psycho-thriller, enough to leave you second guessing everything, but it tends loses grip in a few scenes. Keeping in mind that his previous flick Ragini MMS' (inspired from the Hollywood flick Paranormal Activity), managed to send shivers down your spine; Phobia' is a sincere effort at making a psycho flick' with a chilling storyline. One might get a sense of dejavu while watching this film, as certain scenes are strikingly similar to the film 100 Days' where Madhuri Dixit could foresee things which will happen to her in the near future and Ramgopal Varma's thriller Kaun' featuring Urmila Matondkar who lives alone in a bungalow and turned out to be a psycho killer.

Screenplay by Pavan Kripalani and Arun Sukumar is slightly slow in the first half, but has enough to keep you glued to your seat till the last frame. Dialogues by Pooja Ladha Surti are woven nicely with the psychology of a girl who is dealing with acrophobia. The background score is commendable. The VFX and makeup is good, especially in one scene where her finger gets cut off and Satyadeep keeps in the ice box to preserve it.

The film's chill factor' rests on the shoulders of Radhika Apte, who's expressions are flawless and tends to leave the audience wide-eyed and in awe of her performance. Her act in the climax which leads to a bloodbath shakes you to the bone. Her no make up look is just perfect and is close to the reality. Satyadeep Mishra has done a fabulous job as a friend cum admirer in the film. The pain he feels for Radhika's character is believable. Supporting cast Nivedita Bhattacharya, Yashaswini Damaya and Ankur Vikal, have all done justice to their respective roles.

Pavan Kripalani's Phobia' is a good pick this week unless such psycho thrillers are not your cup of tea.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/270516/phobia-movie-review-a-psychological-thriller-that-will-leave-you-petrified.html