Kannan Iyer’s Bewitching Fare!

Ek Thi Daayan Movie Review-In Short:
A professional illusionist sets out to uncover the mysteries of his past, only to discover that they are back to haunt him.

Ek Thi Daayan Movie Review-Verdict:
The first half of the movie is too good. However, it is the second half which might disappoint you because of its length and poor treatment.

Ek Thi Daayan Movie Review-Story Plot:
Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) is a professional illusionist, who is haunted by the half-forgotten memories of his childhood and the death of his kid sister. As children, Bobo and Misha had seen their father (Pawan Malhotra) fall for the charms of Diana (Konkona Sen Sharma), who Bobo believed was a daayan (witch).

Now, years later, when Bobo is on the verge of marrying his sweetheart Tamara (Huma Qureshi), the dreams of his past threaten to cause further damage. To take care of the issue once and for all,  Bobo seeks the help of a hypnotherapist to unlock the memories of his past, only to discover that the past is not dead and buried at all. Moreover, when he meets Lisa Dutt (Kalki Koechlin), Bobo starts thinking she is a 'daayan' too because of certain similarities to Diana. However, he has no way to prove it, before the situation turns lethal.

Ek Thi Daayan Movie Review-Performances:
Emraan Hashmi as Bobo does his part well, bringing that intense edginess to his performance that he is known for. Huma too does a decent job, but the lady needs to work on her weight-pronto! Kalki as the mysterious Lisa Dutt does not get much to do really. However, it is Konkona, who will take your breath away. As the woman suspected of being a witch, Konkona sends a shiver up your spine with her eerie smile and her glassy stare. The child artistes who play the younger Bobo and his kid sister are damn good and give a better performance than most child artistes usually do.

Impressive

Writer turned Director, Kannan Iyer helms Ek Thi Daayan, the first Joint production of Ekta Kapoor and Vishal Bhardwaj starring Emraan Hashmi ,Konkona Sen Sharma, Kalki Koechlin and Huma Qureshi. As the name suggests, the film belongs to the horror genre which seems to have found a sudden spurt in popularity with a number of recent films including, 3G, Aatma, Haunted 3D and so on exploiting this genre to the fullest. Music in such films generally are haunting and edgy reflecting the mood and tone of the film and one does expect the music of Ek Thi Daayan also to fall under this category. But with Vishal Bharadwaj at the helm (as the music director), one can also expect an element of madness as well as quirkiness in the soundtrack, not to mention the lyrics by Gulzar that is sure to add a touch of class, true to the legend’s style.

The above statement proves true with the very first song of the album. Yaaram sees Sunidhi Chauhan and Clinton Cerejo taking centre-stage and together they manage to captivate the listener from the word Go. Sunidhi starts off slowly and serenely and proceeds to take the listener by storm with the chorus that has simple lyrics by the legend which goes like Tumhaari file-ein, tumhaari diary, Gaadi ki chaabiyaan, tumhaari eyenakein, Tumhaara laptop, tumhaari cap, phone aur apna dil... Though the lyrics sound very simple, the combined effect of the music which reaches a crescendo in the chorus and the lyrics is purely magical. Clinton manages to provide wonderful support to Sunidhi whose voice seems to be tailor-made for this song and the overall effect of this number is such that the listener is bound to fall for this one - hook, line and sinker!

The music director’s style is omnipresent in Totey Ud Gaye that has Vishal Bharadwaj regular, Suresh Wadkar behind the mike along with Rekha Bhardwaj as well as Sukhwinder Singh providing some Punjabi effect for what is essentially a quirky and fun rustic number. Rekha and Suresh complement each other very well at the same time managing to create the sense of madness inherent in this track and Sukhwinder provides solid support to the duo. But the song does not create the kind of effect that one expects from the Vishal-Suresh combination like say a Raat Ke Dhai Baje from Kaminey. Still, it is surely a decent effort from the team.