A good bad time
GHOST WITHOUT THE SCARE: Kaal
What can you do but laugh at a bunch of visitors who go around a spooky, scary forest populated by man-eating tigers and a suspected ghost, doing ridiculously stupid things. It may be okay to borrow the storyline from a movie but borrowing a storyline from just a movie title is a little too much. But, "Kaal" is a `whodunnit' that has tigers (instead of lions) and a ghost on the list of prime suspects. Talk about "The Ghost and the Darkness" taken, literally, for a storyline.
Here is how watching "Kaal" can be made interesting. Prepare a list of thriller/horror flicks — "Sixth Sense," "The Ring," "The Village," "Final Destination," "Scream," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Blair Witch Project," "Omen" or even "Bhooth," "Vaastu Shaastra" or any film from the Ramsay Brothers. And after every scene, knock out the name of the movie that reminds one of the sequence in "Kaal." What does the heavily inspired product look like? It looks like "Kaal," which makes even the horror spoof, "Scary Movie" look sober. "Kaal" is very entertaining, for the following reasons: First,agood looking cast with bad make-up and mouthing the corniest lines. Then there is Esha Deol trying a host of things to distract you from her well-toned Dharmender muscles, one of them being her `costume' and the other includes `attempted acting.'
There is also John Abraham who wears a `What am I doing in this movie' look throughout, and Oberoi's Nth effort in creating some chemistry with Lara Dutta. Second, an awesome camerawork and sound: Santosh Thundiyil (cinematographer) and Dwarak Warrier (sound engineer) have put in their best to make sure that "Kaal" at least looks and sounds like a good movie.
Third, Ajay Devgan, as `Kaali,' the man who takes up the challenge to help the visitors escape the forest, breathes some life into the film, purely with his electric screen-presence and kohl-lined eyes.
Fourth, the Shah Rukh Khan-Malaika Arora item number in the opening credits. The best thing to happen after `Chaiyya Chaiyya' and is the only reason that will make you kick yourself for missing the beginning.
Fifth, it has no Karan Johar ingredient in spite of being his production. This clearly wears the stamp of a Ram Gopal Varma associate, which Soham was. So yes, this is not ghost-directed, at least literally.
SUDHISH KAMATH
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Chennai and Tamil Nadu
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