Swaha - Review

Jayant Oberoi, Patel and Kapoor visit Swami Aasanand Maharaj"s ashram. Swamiji during that time tells Jayant that his son Raj (Ricky) should regularly visit a Shani mandir or else he would be in trouble. At that time Swamiji also removes a ring from Patel"s finger and gives it to Jayant.

Following which, Patel"s business goes downhill and eventually he dies of a heart attack but Jayant prospers. However, Raj spends all his time in pubs with his girlfriend Ally, refusing to go to the Shani Mandir. The Swami visits goes Jayant"s house and suspects that evil spirits have taken possession of the house. He brings along with him a senior priest and together they try to exorcise the house by tying mirchi-nimbu kind of stuff around certain objects in the house. How the house was possessed by spirits which are finally exorcised forms the rest of the drama.

This so called horror film is actually devoid of any horror, except when mentioned in dialogue. In the name of a haunted house effect, except for loud scary music playing in the background nothing else scary takes place. The final solution to the mystery too is tame and lacks any scary element. Everybody acts scared and the effect is highlighted because of the good but highly inappropriate background music, but visually there"s nothing scary at all. In such a situation, the actors cannot but ham atrociously and that"s exactly what they do in this film. Ricky is passable and the Ishrat Ali (Sarkar, Agyaat) playing Swami Aasanand puts in an acceptable performance.

Director Manoj Sharma has made a horror film without any horror scenes, which is unpardonable. Music (Praveen Bharadwaj) serves to distract from poor direction and acting. Production and technical values are average.

On the whole, Swaha is all set to be a complete disaster. The film masquerades as a horror film but displays almost no thrills or chills and is nothing short of sheer torture.

Starring: Rikkee, Svitlana, Ishrat Ali, Jiten Mukhi and Rajesh Vivek

Director: Manoj Sharma