Every Daayan Has Her Day

Ek Thi Daayan is good time-pass. It will be particularly good if you have a girlfriend or boyfriend and can take him/her for some horror-induced cuddles and clinches.

Director Kannan Iyer’s effort is a sincere attempt to Indianise an old horror sub-genre from Hollywood – that of witchcraft and sorcery (though there is no lack of it in Indian literature or mythology). Hollywood has produced any number of them – from ‘Carrie’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, ‘The Craft’, ‘Stardust’ to ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ and even the Harry Potter series.

But Iyer’s attempt is at best superficial, lacking originality. All the tropes are good old Hollywood – the mysterious lift, the signature animal presence, the dark netherworld, the stricken and rambling senior citizen, the obsessed protagonist. The penultimate scenes of the sorcery meeting are clearly inspired by the Roman Polanski classic ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. But one old Bollywood staple has been resurrected although half-heartedly – that of the decrepit watchman.

Some of the shudder-shocks are distinctly Japanese in origin, if you recall the ‘Ring’ series.

I have an issue with the casting too. Emraan Hashmi, usually a dependable actor, fails to be convincing as the daayan-obsessed hero. He seems overwhelmed by the presence of three very strong woman actors in Konkona Sen, Huma Qureshi and Kalki Koechlin. Abhay Deol or the now disgraced Shiney Ahuja would have been a better bet.

If Ek Thi Daayan is worth watching at all, it is for Konkona and the young brother-sister duo played by the masterly Vishesh Tiwari and the cute Sara Arjun.  Konkona never gets dramatic even though her character can so easily fall into the over-the-top trap. And her eyes speak a thousand words. Bravo! It is only fitting that she should come up with a winning performance in a film that is adapted from her father Mukul Sharma’s short story.

The film is most gripping when following the adventures of the young boy and girl. Children, now used to the Harry Potter scare fest, might well enjoy Ek Thi Daayan more than most adults. And that is saying much for Iyer. India hardly makes films for children any more.

The redoubtable Rajatabha Dutta is hobbled here by the lack of Hindi-language skills. The character of the psychiatrist needed a truly veteran thespian like Ananth Nag or Girish Karnad.

The less said about the music, the better. Whatever happened to the sure touch of Vishal Bhardwaj. Only the catchy ‘Yaaram’ comes up to scratch, aided by the sexy presence of Kalki.

 
Whatever the shortcomings, Ek Thi Daayan is a sincere attempt at providing some thrills and chills, and will surely give you a number of chair-gripping moments. For that, it scores an 8 on 10. Go, catch it or the Daayan will catch you.