FILM REVIEW: NAINA (2005)

Cast: Urmila Matondkar, Anuj Sawney, Sulabha Arya, Amrdeep Jha, Kamini Khanna, Shweta Konnur
Producer: Firozi Khan, Ashish Bhatnagar
Director: Shripal Morakhia
Banner: iDream Productions
Music: Salim-Sulaiman

Radio Sargam Rating: 6/10

While popular filmmakers like Ram Gopal Verma and Mahesh Bhatt who were known to experiment with stories at their age seem to have lost touch with the taste of audience and seem bound in their limitations iDream head honcho ‘Shripal Morakhia’ goes out and makes a film like ‘Naina’ that is engrossing, entertaining and yet in touch with times. Film factories of today lose money because they don’t listen to the audience.

Naina shows an uncanny resemblance to Pang Brothers’ Chinese film ‘Jian Gui’ (The Eye) but unlike this weeks other release ‘Nazar’ which heavily borrows from the same film holds viewers glued to the screen till the last frame.

Storyline:
A five year girl sits on the backseat of her parent’s car while they drive her through the streets of London. The day happens to be solar eclipse. The car meets with an accident. Her parents die. She loses her eyesight.

Twenty years later and Naina (Urmila Matondkar) receives a state-of-the-art cornea implant, which restores her vision. As she opens her eyes to a world that remained in the dark for her for two decades, Naina discovers to her utter shock that she can see dead people.

The story progresses as a horror film and eventually culminates in a psycho thriller, a kind of narration not witnessed often in Hindi cinema. Urmila Matondkar as 'Naina' also travels with her newly found 'power' to unknown places to find out the truth. Eventually, she comes across many revelations that are shocking as well as horrifying. Her travel includes dark by lanes of London to eerie daylights of Gujarat.

It turns out that she is seeing the world through the eyes of a Gujarat village girl named Khemi (the cornea donor) who had strange psychic powers, lived a turbulent life and died in anguish.

Meanwhile she has been consulting with a psychiatrist, Dr. Samir Patel (Anuj Sawhney), who falls in love with her.

Naina’s search for answers takes her from London to Bhuj (along with Anuj) in Gujarat where the true story of Khemi (Shweta Konnur) is revealed to her.

Critique:
'Naina' tries to cross over in terms of audience too, and tries its best to relate with masses as well classes. The film belongs to its director ‘Shripal Morakhia’. He has handled the screenplay and story in a way that the narrative never gives time to the viewers to think.

Another factor which holds Naina together is Urmila Matondkar's strong and convincing performance. Her performance here is nothing short of perfect and she handles the frightening episodes and the quiet, contemplative scenes with equal skill.

Other actors except Shweta Konnur (Khemi) are at best average. Specially, Kamini Khanna as Naina’s dadi overacts.

Salim-Sulaiman background score is first rate. They spook you and it works. 'Naina' also boasts of some scenes with very good visual effects that look real in the final effect. The credit for goes to the good work done by Parikshit Lalwani in sound department and C.K. Muralidharan and Jonathan Bloom's camera.

Bottom Line:
Those who haven’t seen the Chinese film ‘Jian Gui’ (The Eye) will certainly be spooked out of their minds by Naina.

On the whole Naina is a praiseworthy effort which would be appreciated by the viewers (Naina has opened with 100% collections).

Credit: This review was submitted by Ankit Jain of Footprints.in. They run their own movie Blog at DCECinemas. To submit your own review for posting on radiosargam.com please email.

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