After
Phobia, this is way below par movie from Pavan Kirpalani, works neither as
whodunnit nor as a drama.
Directed
by: Pavan Kirpalani
"Har woh cheez jisne mujhe daraaya
hai, wahin se mujhe apne saare sawaalo ke jawaab milenge.”
Spoilers ahead...
Plot of Gaslight: Sara Ali Khan Tries to Solve the Mystery of Her Missing
Father
Meesha
(Sara Ali Khan) returns to her royal family estate for the first time since
childhood to visit her father, with whom she hasn't spoken in more than a
decade. She is welcomed at the palace by her stepmother Rukmini (Chitrangda
Singh). Soon, she learns that her father isn't home and has gone for some
important work. The rest of the story deals with how Meesha feels something is
off and that her father (whom she calls Daata) should have been home, knowing
she was coming to meet him after such a long gap.
A Crime
Mystery with Clichéd Twists
These
days, most mystery suspense films have two twists. Once the first twist is
revealed, we suddenly learn there's a bigger one that was kept hidden. Now, I
am not against this, but for that second 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 they play it safe.
In
"Gaslight," the same problem occurs. It would hardly take you 15-20
minutes max to predict that first twist, largely because the writing team
didn't do enough work on the character of Kapil (Vikrant Massey), the estate
manager who all the time gives you the feeling that he isn't what he is
showing. Also, it's one of the weakest performances of Vikrant Massey as it
lacked freshness and felt seen before, making you feel he's getting typecast.
The
second twist is good but questionable too because you have to backtrack and
understand why Meesha behaves like she does in some of the scenes. To be
honest, I don't have the patience to give the movie another chance for that.
Initial
Horror Setup Works in Gaslight
I did
enjoy the initial horror setup; for a while, I was hoping that there was
actually either some ghost at work or some black magic in play. Although the
dark night settings felt way too dark at times, making 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 wouldn't buy it.
Performance-wise,
everyone falters mostly because the writing is average. Chitrangda Singh is
likable for the most part, while Sara Ali Khan felt okay-ish 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 the past few years, so it was still good to see him in the limited
screentime.
Verdict
on Gaslight
Overall,
I was expecting more than just an average movie from Pavan Kirpalani, as he has
done some good work in the past, especially Phobia, but
Gaslight neither works as a whodunnit nor as a drama.
Rating:
4/10
