So
whodunit?
Put
a
bunch
of
assorted
dysfunctional
men
and
women
into
a
shopping
mall,
not
to
shop,
but
to
get
bumped
off.
And
voila,
the
whodunit
takes
the
characters
to
shop
until
they
drop,
one
by
one.
There's
a
Santa
Claus
with
a
hatchet
in
hand
running
around
the
deathly-still,
sparkling
-clean,
spotless
and
eerily
blood-thirsty
mall.
By
jove!
The
polished
surfaces
of
the
mall
glisten
with
a
glorious
promise
of
gore.
This,
we've
got
to
see.
Luckily
the
unravelling
of
the
mystery
of
the
murderous
mall
is
not
a
disappointment
Hide
&
Seek
packs
in
a
punch.
Srikant
Saroj's
camera
stalks
the
corridors
with
a
restless
energy.
The
whole
project
seems
to
have
been
conceived
and
designed
so
that
an
emptied-out
shopping
mall
could
be
used
as
a
venue
for
some
hardcore
scares.
Hide
&
Seek
offers
a
terrain
of
mild
terror,
more
in
the
thought
(dark
empty
mall,
no
exit)
than
execution.
Once
the
sextet
of
helter-skelter
friends-turned-enemies
is
clamped
shut
in
the
lap
of
shivery
luxury
the
plot
thickens
in
rapid
fire
motions.
The
characters
include
a
North-Indian-
hating
Marathi
politician
(ahem)
played
rather
loudly
by
Arjan
Bajwa
and
a
nerd
turned
beefy
film
star
played
by
Ayaz
Khan,
who
create
a
stifling
circle
of
tension,
some
of
it
palpable,
others,
pale.
On
the
whole,
the
mayhem-in-the-mall
holds
together,
generating
a
mix
of
the
hazy
crazy
and
sometimes
just
the
lazy.
On
occasions
the
characters
are
driven
into
postures
of
terror
more
by
exterior
forces
(scared
people
running
in
an
empty
mall
is
a
great
turn-on)
rather
than
by
a
genuine
sense
of
plotting
urgency.
The
most
heart-in-the-mouth
moments
feature
debutante
Amruta
Patki
caught
alone
in
a
movie
theatre
and
later
cowering
in
a
ladies
toilet
as
Santa
With
The
Axe('axe'
no
questions
he
tells
no
lies)
stalks
her
down
the
squeaky-cleanwashroom.
So
what's
Hide
&
Seek
really
about?
Is
it
about
6
'high'
school
friends
(everyone
is
high
on
some
unnamed
drug
or
the
other)
who
once
got
caught
in
a
party
plastered
with
jealousy
intrigue
rape
and
murder?
Or
is
it
just
mayhem
in
a
mall
caught
on
camera
that
knows
how
to
zig-zag
through
the
serpentine
corridors
without
knocking
into
hard
surfaces?
Either
way
the
film
offers
interesting
possibilities
of
high
anxiety.
Debutant
director
Shawn
Arranha
displays
skill
and
control
in
a
way
the
individually
aggravated
characters
are
kept
in
check
when
they
come
into
contact
with
one
another.
The
performances
are
enthusiastic,
Purab
Kohli
being
particularly
interesting
to
watch
as
a
mentally
disturbed
young
man
who
thinks
love
is
just
a
wish
away.
Some
of
the
acting
does
get
over-the-top
although
the
director
seems
to
avoid
excess
as
much
as
he
can
in
a
film
belonging
to
genre
where
gore
is
glory.
Grant
the
film
a
few
extra
points
for
inventiveness.
Also
for
a
slasher
movie
the
slash-and-maim
quotient
is
minimal.
And
the
end-game
where
we
the
audience
are
played
with
as
much
wicked
relish
as
the
characters,
is
the
kind
of
twist
amateur
whodunits
revel
in.
For
an
evening
of
chills
this
one
is
sufficiently
equipped.
But
don't
look
for
much
more
in
the
haunted
shopping
mall
than
meets
the
eye.
Story first published: Monday, March 15, 2010, 14:49 [IST]