FILM REVIEW: NAZAR (2005)

Actors: Ashmit Patel, Meera, Koel Puri, Aly Khan, Avtaar Gill
Director: Soni Razdan
Producer: Vishesh Films

Radio Sargam Rating: 3/10

Nazar marks the directorial debut of character artist Soni Razdan. And continuing their tradition of introducing new faces in Bollywood, the Bhatt’s unveil popular Pakistan actress Meera in this film. Nazar also happens to be the first Hindi film of actress Koel Purie.

Mahesh Bhatt and company went all out to bill Nazar as a milestone between Indo-Pak relationships. But then the kissing controversy raged following which the kissing scene was deleted from the movie. What remains of Nazar is a stereotype thriller which borrows heavily from two hit flicks - Eyes of Laura Mars and Jian Gui (The Eye) and yet struggles to keep viewers interest alive.

Infact the main killer in this whodunit is the movies running time.

Storyline:
Divya (Meera) is a lead singer, stage performer and actress who has been living a secluded life after her parents demise.

The movie opens with a bang. The stage show number filmed on ‘Meera’ sets the tempo of the movie. The number grips you and the subsequent sequence where Meera interacts with a victim on a secluded road, scares the daylights out of you. Isn’t it an ideal setting for a whodunit?

Yes maybe but from this point on the narrative capabilities of Soni Razdan suddenly take a downward course.

After the incident Divya begins to have visions from the future. It becomes a curse for Divya because all she sees from the future is nothing but acts of brutal murders – nubile dance-bar girls being stabbed, strangulated and suffocated to death by a killer whose face continues to elude Divya’s visions.

As the story unfolds, she meets Special Investigating Officer Rohan (Ashmit Patel), who is uncovering a case of serial killings of bar dancers. Though Rohan’s assistant finds it hard to digest Divya’s story Rohan strangely swallows it. Taking help of Divya’s visions, he begins to zero down on prime suspects that include a doctor, a fugitive and an eccentric-alcoholic uncle who frequents bars regularly. But then Divya vision’s her death!

What happens next? Ah! The love story progresses under the waterfall between the cop and Divya much to the distaste of her friend Tarun (Aly Khan). Tarun loves Divya and openly declares his intentions to her time and again.

What…? A love triangle! In midst of murders and supposedly gripping thriller coupled with few not so happening songs, time to curse and tear your hair apart.

Critique:
The problem with the film lies clearly in its screenplay. Meera continues to get visions and the murderer knows it all through about this (which the viewer learns in the final reel). But the murderer waits for the climax to strike and eliminate Meera. Why not before? Why leave footprints behind?

Also, Meera can see the face of the victim, location of the murder, the weapon being used to carry out the heinous crime, even the movements of the victim and murderer, but why doesn't she see the face of the murderer? Why does she see it only in the end?

Meera shows why she is one of the finest talents in Pakistan. She manages to impress one and all with her acting in the movie. Coupled with right body language and facial expressions (though her voice was dubbed in true Vishesh Films tradition) she carries a major part of Nazar convincingly. Koel Puri struggles to invest a semblance of intelligence into a film that's structured like a de-escalating whodunit.

The weakest rivet is Ashmit Patel who immediately needs some acting lessons. He seems to be a long haired rock star who isn’t sure of who he is.

Nazar is Soni Razdan’s first film as director and she disappoints. She has to take the blame for the shoddy affair called Nazar. But then she had neither had Salim – Sulaiman nor a focused technical team as Naina had.

A weak screenplay is the films biggest undoing.

Nazar is an avoidable fare. Give it a miss, check out Naina instead.

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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