Very early in Rakht (2004), Drishti (Bipasha Basu), the
widowed psychic soccer mom heroine, is visited by her grandmother.
Grandma isn’t just there to chat, though; she’s come to deliver a dire
warning about coming trouble, and also to drop off some delicious
laddoos. When Drishti receives a phone call telling her that her
grandmother died that morning, Grandma promptly vanishes in a burst of
light. This sort of thing happens all the time when you’re psychic, and
I’m sure it can get pretty annoying. ("Darn it! They gave me an extra
bag of rice at the grocery store. I’ll have to take it back.”
“Drishti, the grocery store just called, and the bagboy died this morning!“) No wonder they call it a curse rather than a gift.
Grandma’s right, though. Trouble is a brewin’. One of Drishti’s clients is Rhea (Neha Dhupia), who is married to Sunny (Dino Morea), who is angry, abusive, and not terribly sunny. Drishti keeps urging Rhea to leave, without success, and Sunny registers his objection by stalking and terrorizing Drishti.
Drishti’s life isn’t all bad, though. Rahul (Sanjay Dutt), the principal of the school her son attends, seems to like her. Of course, the visions are clear that Rahul isn’t a potential husband, and in any case Rahul is engaged to Natasha (Amrita Arora), an aspiring pop star and the daughter of the mayor (Sharat Saxena). And when Drishti learns of the engagement, she has a sudden vision of blood running down a drain, so perhaps Rahul is a bad example.
Still, Drishti does have friends, most notably Mohit (Sunil Shetty), a mentally disabled car mechanic who is frequently beaten by his father and who has taken to wondering aloud whether he will die if he slaughters the bullock.
So Drishti’s life isn’t all that good. Things can always get worse, though, and they do. Natasha disappears, and her father turns to Drishti for help. The police are skeptical, but they follow as Drishti’s visions lead them almost literally to Sunny’s door.
Although there are several ghosts in Rakht, some nice, some less so, it’s a creepy rather than a spooky. This is a psychic suspense thriller, and it follows that formula closely, complete with the rational police inspector (Rajat Bedi) finally being won over by Drishti’s gift, a mocking defense attorney asking her on the stand why she doesn’t use her gift to win the lottery, and an allegedly psychic heroine who can’t predict the plot as well as I can. ("Don’t look in the doghouse!” I shout. She doesn’t listen.)
As any Bollywood fan can tell you, though, there’s nothing wrong with following a formula as long as you do it well. The plot makes sense most of the time; while there are twists, there’s nothing in the order of Anupam Kher keeping Sunny’s family prisoner in his basement. (I understand the plot is lifted almost directly from The Gift, a Western movie I have not seen, so I suppose congratulations should really go to Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.)
Production values are high, and some of the visions are genuinely disturbing. The cast is also very good; Sunil Shetty in particular does well in a role that is much different from his usual casting. And Abhishek Bachchan’s cameo is gratuitous, cheesy and manipulative. It’s the sort of thing a Western film wouldn’t even try to get away with, and yet another example of why I like Bollywood so much.
Grandma’s right, though. Trouble is a brewin’. One of Drishti’s clients is Rhea (Neha Dhupia), who is married to Sunny (Dino Morea), who is angry, abusive, and not terribly sunny. Drishti keeps urging Rhea to leave, without success, and Sunny registers his objection by stalking and terrorizing Drishti.
Drishti’s life isn’t all bad, though. Rahul (Sanjay Dutt), the principal of the school her son attends, seems to like her. Of course, the visions are clear that Rahul isn’t a potential husband, and in any case Rahul is engaged to Natasha (Amrita Arora), an aspiring pop star and the daughter of the mayor (Sharat Saxena). And when Drishti learns of the engagement, she has a sudden vision of blood running down a drain, so perhaps Rahul is a bad example.
Still, Drishti does have friends, most notably Mohit (Sunil Shetty), a mentally disabled car mechanic who is frequently beaten by his father and who has taken to wondering aloud whether he will die if he slaughters the bullock.
So Drishti’s life isn’t all that good. Things can always get worse, though, and they do. Natasha disappears, and her father turns to Drishti for help. The police are skeptical, but they follow as Drishti’s visions lead them almost literally to Sunny’s door.
Although there are several ghosts in Rakht, some nice, some less so, it’s a creepy rather than a spooky. This is a psychic suspense thriller, and it follows that formula closely, complete with the rational police inspector (Rajat Bedi) finally being won over by Drishti’s gift, a mocking defense attorney asking her on the stand why she doesn’t use her gift to win the lottery, and an allegedly psychic heroine who can’t predict the plot as well as I can. ("Don’t look in the doghouse!” I shout. She doesn’t listen.)
As any Bollywood fan can tell you, though, there’s nothing wrong with following a formula as long as you do it well. The plot makes sense most of the time; while there are twists, there’s nothing in the order of Anupam Kher keeping Sunny’s family prisoner in his basement. (I understand the plot is lifted almost directly from The Gift, a Western movie I have not seen, so I suppose congratulations should really go to Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.)
Production values are high, and some of the visions are genuinely disturbing. The cast is also very good; Sunil Shetty in particular does well in a role that is much different from his usual casting. And Abhishek Bachchan’s cameo is gratuitous, cheesy and manipulative. It’s the sort of thing a Western film wouldn’t even try to get away with, and yet another example of why I like Bollywood so much.
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