An avenging activist ghost in an environmentally friendly film inspired by a Kabir doha. This is surely a Bollywood first.
Raaz: The Mystery Continues, directed by Mohit Suri, is about a fashion model, Nandita played by Kangna Ranaut, who enjoys a happy live-in relationship with a successful television journalist, Yash played by Adhayan Suman.
Life seems hunky-dory until one fine day, when Nandita is pursued by an artist Prithivi, played by Emraan Hashmi. Prithvi, for reasons, never explained, creates paintings that predict her future.
I thought Prithivi, with unblinking eyes and monotone expression was scary enough but obviously Suri wasn't content. The horrors pile up, mostly in a bathroom the size of a Mumbai apartment and before you can say Exorcist, Nandita is levitating and speaking in a man's voice.
Believe it or not, the mystery leads back to a small town named Kalindi, a well lifted straight from The Ring, which itself was a copy and a pesticide plant. I understand that horror movies follow their own peculiar logic - the number one rule is that when something spooky happens, a character never bolts out of the door like any normal person would. Instead he walks directly into the path of danger.
But Raaz aspires to a new level of foolishness. So when a slashed, bleeding and recently airborne Nandita is sitting scared in a Church, Yash casually suggests that they get married. You see, he creates a show that exposes superstition and doesn't believe in higher powers. And he doesn't change his mind, even when a sickly grey hand lunges at him out of nowhere and leaves him bleeding.
The first Raaz, which married the Hollywood film What Lies Beneath with the myth of Savitri who pursued Yamraj until her husband came back to life, had a cheesy appeal. This Raaz is a big bore.
The scares are tired and Suri doesn't know how to pace them out. So, every minute, something awful is happening, from a bull attack to mutilation and murder. Was I scared? Not once. This mystery was better left discontinued.