Don't get scared, get thrilled

I get scared very easily. After I watched The Ring I could not sleep for a week.

I saw Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot through a crack between my fingers.

Darna Mana Hai, I was told, did not exactly fall in the horror genre. But I expected the worst anyway.

I needn't have worried. The film did not scare me at all. But it did thrill. By the end of the film, I was so absorbed, I did not feel time fly by.

Directed by Prawaal Raman and produced by Ram Gopal Varma, Darna Mana Hai holds your interest throughout. It has six stories, well blended into the main plot. Each story is crisply edited and unpredictable, which makes you wait for the next story to unfold.

Stories are based on simple, mundane things like a no-smoking signboard or school homework or apples.

The film is about a group of friends on their way home from Goa. Midway, in the middle of the night, their car breaks down. The friends are stuck on a deserted road in a jungle. They have no choice but to wait till morning to resume the journey. One of them, Shruti (Sameera Reddy) spots a light. They make their way to it and decide to spend the night telling each other stories.

I will not spoil it for you by revealing the stories. Some of them may not make sense (though I liked the concept of Shilpa Shetty being wary of apples, I did not think much about the ending), but they are entertaining. I loved two stories in particular: the car ride with Vivek Oberoi and Nana Patekar and a simple childhood game with Aftab Shivdasani and Isha Koppikar.

The fact that there are no songs in the film helps keep its pace. Though it must be said that the songs (by Salim Sulaiman) airing in promos on Indian television are quite good.

The camerawork and sound effects are excellent. The performances are great (Boman Irani deserves special mention here). Sameera Reddy looks good and acts well in her second film, after the no-show Maine Dil Tujko Diya. Sohail Khan, who also appeared in both films, is rather decent in Darna Mana Hai.

The film has the Bhoot hangover of a linear story, with not many surprises in the main plot.

Darna Mana Hai also has its fare share of faults. The most important one being the ending. After a subdued climax, you begin to wonder why Varma's films start so well and end poorly. Bhoot also suffered from this when Fardeen Khan was made to fly around.

Last heard, Varma is planning a sequel to this film Darna Zaroori Hai. I am looking forward to it.