Directed by : Pavan Kirpalani 

Har woh cheez jisne mujhe daraaya hai, wahin se mujhe apne saare sawaalo ke jawaab milenge. 

Sara Ali Khan and Chitrangda Singh in 'Gaslight'

Spoilers ahead... 


Meesha (Sara Ali Khan) returns to her royal family estate for first time since childhood days to visit her father with whom she hasn't had a talking relation for more than a decade. She is welcomed at the palace by her step-mother Rukmini (Chitrangda Singh). Soon she learns that her father isn't home and gone for some important work. The rest story deals with how Meesha feels something is off and her father (she calls her Daata) should had been home knowing she is coming to meet after such long gap. 

These days most of mystery suspense films have 2 twists, once the first twist is revealed suddenly we come to know there's a bigger one that was kept hidden. Now, I am not against this but for that 2nd big twist to work I feel the first one has to be good enough too otherwise it just gives a feeling of the makers having no confidence so playing safe. 

In Gaslight, the same problem happens.. it would hardly take you 15-20 mins max to predict that 1st twist  largely because the writing team didn't do enough work on the character of Kapil (Vikrant Massey), estate manager who all the time gives you the feeling of he isn't what he is showing. Also, its one of the weakest performances of Vikrant Massey as it lacked freshness and felt seen before, you feel he's getting typecasted. 

The 2nd twist is good but questionable too, because then you have to backtrack and understand why Meesha behaves like she does in some of the scenes. To be honest, I don't have patience to give the movie another chance for that. 

I did enjoy the intial horror setup, for a while I was hoping that there is actually either some ghost at work or some black magic in play. Although the dark night settings felt way too dark at times that made it tough to see what's happening, something I felt while watching the trailer too. The entire blind woman act was silly even if later the real intention is shown, it was so hammy that any smart person won't buy it.

Performances wise, everyone falters mostly because the writing is average. Chitrangda Singh is likeable of all for most parts while Sara Ali Khan felt okish and irritating at places. Rahul Dev feels wasted, maybe the idea was that less of him would mean he is the real suspect but that still didn't work out. I haven't seen him much in past few years, so it was still good to see him in the limited screentime. 

Overall, I was expecting more than just an average movie from Pavan Kirpalani as he has done some good work in past especially 'Phobia', but Gaslight neither works as a whodunnit nor as a drama.

My Rating : 4.5/10