After making a couple of horror films, Vemagal Jagannatharao has come out with yet another one titled Bhaya.com which he has written the story and screenplay for.
And even though it is scarier than his earlier films, it still falls short of being slotted as one of the best horror films made in Kannada.
Bhaya.com revolves around the many mysterious incidents that happen in a personal computer. There are many incidents and dialogues in the film that relate to the computer hardware and software which goes well with the story. But still the film misses the chance of getting good critical acclaim and popularity only because Rao has failed to select suitable artists for the film. He has concentrated mainly on the graphic work and background music without trying to create the right background and ambience.
The dialogues of the film are sketchy. Some of the logical explanations he provides while narrating the story cannot be easily understood by the viewers. The second half of the film moves a bit faster than the first half.
The story goes like this: Prashanth heads a technology agency along with his friends Rajeev, Gokhale, Vini, Preethi and Prakruthi. The six friends go on a trip to take some photographs where they come across a mysterious hideout. Rajeev starts behaving in a peculiar fashion when he is around that place. His friends decide to investigate. They start noticing that the computers in the office behave in a peculiar manner. They enlist the help of a computer hardware expert to get to the bottom of things. The horror begins when the expert vanishes. Finally the entire mysterious drama is resolved with the help of a learned Tantrik.
Except for Santhosh who plays the role of Prashanth, all the other artists are fresh faces and only Meghana makes any impact. Experienced artists like Shankar Aswath, Sundar Raj, Bharat Bhagavathar, Krishna Adita are adequate in their roles.
The highlight of the film is the effective background music of Rajesh Ramanath, who has however failed to compose good tunes for the songs.
All in all, Bhaya.com is a good watch for horror film fans.
Rediff Rating: