Ek Thi Daayan Review

 What is it about?

Pushing their envelope further as the darers of Hindi cinema who not scare to satisfy their creative hormones be it `Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola' or `Dirty Picture' in that matter.. the on screen romance of Ekta Kapoor's Balaji and Vishal Bhardwaj's VB - `Ek Thi Daayan' is a twisty ghost story with novelty chills of a modern horror flick and the flair of a classic bollywood drama powered by terrific performance.

The Story

There is a popular magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi). Accidents are happening at his stage performances. He is mystified and goes to his psychiatrist. The doctor takes him to his childhood. As a child Bobo is shown living with his widowed father (Pawan Malhotra) and his younger sister. He is very much interested in the occult and aspires to be a magician. Enters a neighbour Diana (Konkana Sen Sharma). Bobo thinks she is a witch, and Diana bewitches his father and he marries her. Bobo's father and sister die in mysterious circumstances. Diana has also disappeared. Bobo has passed that phase and succeeded in life as a magician. He has also a girlfriend Tamara (Huma Qureshi). They get married. Lisa Dutt (Kalki Koechlin) arrives from Canada. She claims to be a huge fan of the magician Bobo. She buys Bobo's old house at a fabulous price, and strange things start happening.

What to look for?

The suspense about the identity of characters, who belongs only to this earth? And who has outer world connections? And what they are up to? Makes it for a perfect outing for lovers of this genre. The first half is simply terrific.. Kannan Iyer makes a hauntingly impressive impact and seems he has learnt his work with elan. Iyer shows his mastery as the helmer where he convincingly makes us react accordingly to his scary, dramatic and thrillingly spine chilling moments like the hide and seek scene between Emraan, his sister and Konkana.

Iyer has an eye for scene setting and shows his caliber in making the audience arrested to his spoofy eerie developments on screen.

Gulzar's pen and Vishal Bhardwaj music rise to the occasion to give us a special treat with `Kaali, Kaali' and `Yaaram'.

Talk about performances Emraan Hashmi is thoroughly amazing as the magician. Konkana Sen Sharma is extremely effective. The b-town raw quotient of oomph - Huma Qureshi looks gorgeous and does very well. Kalki Koechlin is natural. Bhavesh Balchandani impresses as the kid. Pawan Malhotra is fine.

What not

With such a marvelous impression and terrific first half.. Expectations of a path breaking unfolding of the story rises but somehow it doesn,t reach to that peak.

Conclusion: Powered by terrific performance Ek Thi Daayan is a ghost story with novelty as its glory.. have a date with this mate at this nearest screen.

Rating-***&1/2