Ragini MMS : movie review

                                        Chills and shrills in a mould of realism

Once in an interview, a popular Bollywood actress told,” Only sex or Shahrukh sells in India”. I am not going to justify the present validity of the statement but one thing for sure , at least with Ekta Kapoor’s recent venture with debutant director has isolated ‘sex’ and combined it with ‘ghost’ to present a spine chiller in the stuffy summer of India.

 As per the skeleton of the story goes it follows a normal course that even Ramsays have followed decades ago – a sex-driven couple , a desolated haunted haveli   and a back story of an woman and her dead children.

But the film differs heavily from the run-on-the-mill horror flicks with ghostly creatures or white-clad singing ghosts. The differentiation lay on the presentation. It rests heavily on the fact of sharing an intimate experience.  The jerky, badly framed camerawork may pose hard on the eye sometime but it really make the eerie feeling even more striking . The film craves out the spookiest chills by keeping some heavy moment half-seen or unseen at times. And believe me, these unseen creeps you out the most.

The background score is at par and never sounded out of sync.

The concept inspired by the ‘Blair Witch Project’ or ‘Paranormal Activity’ – a horror flick with reality check took ground in India with this one, if we ignore the unbaked Varma’s Phoonk few years back. But, the venture still remains half-baked. Though it is never advisable to seek logic in a horror film, the question tickles – if the whole movie is not holding the self-shot footages, then why it goes for the jerky, hasty frames? It holds good if the whole movie is presented from a single vision just as BWP or Paranormal Activity did. It may be the hangover of Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘LSD’ or a desperate attempt to provide a meaning to the term ‘MMS’ in the title that they have adopted this style  but surely it is an unbeatable strategy to claim a reason for it’s cheap aroma.

The film starts with a puzzle by showing back-to-back two contrasting disclaimers ’based on true events’ and ‘any resemblance is coincidental’..!!!!

Kainaz – as the title girl Ragini does a decent job. But the showstealer is Rajkumar yadav – the male lead deserves accolades. His attitude made the character convincingly naturalized. And more importantly, the impulsive pedestriatic comments that spurted under his breath sometime – help the audience to relate with the feel of the movie. He did a brilliant job.

 

As a debutant director – Prawan kriplani did justice to the film. But the excuse of ‘panditji’ and his associate setting up an extravagant in-room-set-up of spy cam that can make even the IPL broadcasters feel shy – to make some scenes un-jerky and framed –stands vague. And, if it is taken as a cinematic liberty taken by the director, this flick has obviously raised the bar of the horror genre movies in India.

To stand out from the industry that is producing innumerable movies in a year – added with the big-shot production houses Chopras and Johars, it has highly become important to make out a point of differentiation and sell it. ‘Ragini MMS’ rightly proves the fact that if a film with an interesting concept and a intelligent plot is marketed properly, it can become a money spinner. Barely made on a budget of 1 Cr. ,the movie has gained nearly 1.80 Cr. In the weekend itself .

The film-makers have realized that the main target audience is the youth .So, starting from Chopras, Johars and even SRK is trying his luck in making film targeting the age group of 18-30.And ,here also, this film succeeded in wooing the youth by promising an irresistible combination of sex and ghost.

So what if it does not hold the boldness to become a all-rush print edition – it struck the right chord for an Indianized potboiler that present an ecstatic combination of the two taboos in the society--- “sex and spirit” .