Review: THE PAST

Should Have Kept The Story Buried There

1 star

Mini Review:

A novelist and her sister are in a bungalow in Lonavala

which is haunted. Before you facepalm at every cliche in

the horror genre you will see in this film, spare a thought

for the actor Vedita Pratap Singh who gives the role of a

girl possessed her everything. She’s very good, but the

rest of the story and other actors are terrible. Could have

been a good fun scary story but ends up being silly.

Main Review:

Yes, there is one moment where the sister jumps out of the

cupboard that is surprising. But it is too late, too little.

The story is straightforward. A publisher asks a writer to write a

novel based on his story, and offers his Lonavala bungalow for

the writer (and her annoying sister) to write in peace and quiet.

Of course the bungalow has a caretaker Shambhu (who is very

conveniently absent when the hauntings begin).

Let’s list horror film cliches that crowd the film after the two girls

reach Lonavala. The writer begins to hear things. The writer

obliges us with a swimwear scene. You hear more strange

noises, the writer (Vedita Pratap Singh) explores the bungalow.

She sees the ghost, the ghost enters her body with a jerk, she

does bones of the neck cracking action, her hair that is in pretty

curls suddenly turns into something out of evil ‘Hairspray’ -

teased beyond belief. When the ghost occupies her body, the

writer’s eyes suddenly become wider and dark circles are

added around her eyes.

The writer goes to the ‘cupboard’ and suddenly is out on the

street seducing some passing motorist, calls him in for coffee

and yes, there is a gratuitous lovemaking scene. When she

wakes up, she does not remember anything. That’s when we

realise that the ghost enters and goes out of her body at will.

The sister realises something is wrong when her sister suddenly

grabs the bowl of chicken and is then shown sitting on top of a

cupboard eating like an animal. The sister has called the writer’s

best friend and her fiance. Of course the ghost attempts to

seduce the poor fiance. They call Jane the exorcist and then a

Hindu exorcist (what is Rajesh Sharma doing here, you wonder!).

There is a crucifix (and the Lord’s prayer) as well as a pocket-

sized trishul (the three pronged spear that Shiva carries). There

is levitation (after all what is a ghost film without levitation?!)

The film has so many cliches you feel terrible for the lead actor

Vedita Pratap Singh. She does her best, but the story around

her is so terrible, you sigh and wait for the evil doll to be

destroyed. Yes, there’s that cliche too. The terrible horror films

that Ramsay Brothers made still rule Indian Halloween!

(This review appears on nowrunning dot com)