'Ek Thi Daayan', co-written and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj, sees the filmmaker revisit the mythology of witches once again. But where 'Makdee' was an old-fashioned fable about a village witch who supposedly turned humans into animals, 'Daayan', set in the modern, urban world, is intended as an eerie supernatural thriller.
You watch the first half of Ek Thi Daayan and marvel at the outstanding detail of its story. A horror film stays away from all the formulae of its genre and manufactures pure dread by antagonising innocence. You wonder at the way the curiosity and naivety of a child is turned into pure horror. You clutch the end of your arm rest in dismay because a woman who looks pretty homely and harmless behaves as if she is a devil reincarnate. Words can’t describe the overdrive of emotions achieved in first half of this film. Vishesh Tiwari playing the young Bobo captures all your fears and plays them out in the open. So every time he shrieks at the daayan turning into a lizard, you fear you might have some evil geckos at home, which you may have previously perceived as harmless. Would you want to go home to them? The movie plays wonderful mind games with the viewer. And it adds a sense of horror to such elementary activities like taking the lift.
Kannan Iyer delivers a stylish supernatural horror flick that uses a contemporary setting to weave a story which brings up folk lores about daayans (witches) and spirits. The first half introduces us to the world of renowned magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) who has a dark past that refuses to leave his side.
During a hypnosis session, we enter the world of a 10-year-old Bobo who never fits in with his surrounding because of his ability to analyse and read into matters of the spiritual world. A tragic accident during a game of hide and seek leaves the young magician scarred for life. Most of his angst is directed towards Diana (Konkona Sen Sharma) his step mom who he thinks is a daayan out to sacrifice him on the altar.
He comes out of his hypnotherapy to return to his regular world where his wife Tamara (Huma Qureshi) refuses to believe his tales from the crypt and challenges him to prove his theories. The second half completes this eerie triangle with Lisa Dutta (Kalki Koechlin) an ardent fan of Bobo making matters murkier with her ominous presence.
Mind you, all that flattery ends as you near the film’s climax. Though Ek Thi Daayan retains the same visual appeal and character quirk in the second half, it also attains a rather distasteful and clichéd horror design. The absolute convenience with which writers Vishal Bhardwaj and Mukul Sharma convolute their story elements to make exaggerated developments is irritating. (Spoiler alert) Emraan Hashmi suddenly spawns super powers and his altercation with the daayan is best described as werewolves versus vampires. What happened to wonderfully unique concepts like “har building ka apna hell hota hai” (every building as its own hell) that made the film’s first half? Director Kannan Iyer sure loses the plot at the end.
But the extremely juvenile end of Ek Thi Daayan doesn’t do enough damage to spoil the memorable impressions of its build up. Watch this film for its ingenuity and flair. You won’t feel as safe around house lizards and women with long plaits. You’ll mock your own vivid imagination just the way the end of this film mocks its potential.
