Perhaps for the first since the accord between the producers and the multiplex owners in Bollywood, three Hindi movies are releasing this Friday, August 7th. And director Ram Gopal Verma's 'Agyaat' is on top followed by Satish Kaushik's 'Terre Sang' and Mithun Chakravorty starrer 'Chal Chalein'. Ramu has once again repeated a kind of horror movie even though some of them had boxed in the past. The audience always has high expectation from him and eagerly looks for thrill. This is another matter that in spite of his much-hyped publicity, he disappoints them this time too.
Let's analyse 'Agyaat's story. This is based on a film crew arriving in a dense forest to shoot their film! Incidentally, the crew comprises hero Sharman played by Gautam Rode, who has a lust for heroine Aasha, played by the director's favorite Priyanka aka Nisha Kothari. Others include a South Indian producer Moorty played by Ishrat Ali, an eccentric director JJ played by Howard Rosemeyer, Joy Fernandes playing a guide, a spot boy Laxman played by Ishtiyak Khan, a cameraman Shakky played by Kali Prasad and an action director Rakka played by Ravi Kale.
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In the movie, the script supervisor Sameera played by Rasika Duggal happens to have a secret crush on Sujal, assistant director played by Nitin. Sameera always dreams about replacing Asha as film's lead lady! The film starts with the crew taking two days' break and planning a small camp in the jungle. Joy Fernandes playing Setu, a local jungle guide, leads the crew to the dense forest. While all are partying around bonfire, a sudden strange sound disrupts them. Setu goes on to find out more about it but doesn't return. The crew finds his dead body only. Later, their car meets with an accident! Here, the movie takes a turn; the crew being trapped in the unknown terrain. While trying to find their way out more crew members start dying under mysterious circumstances.
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We don't find the story well knit nor does it have a proper screenplay. Anyway, no one expects a conventional plot from him, but we do hope for the proper execution. Why did he publicize it by exhibiting 15 dummies of dead bodies suspended from the movie's posters? Why does he conceive half a dozen deaths in the jungle? We don't understand.The number of crew is limited to ten and their status is minimal. Some of them are just newcomers. Though Nitin Reddy is a newcomer he seems to have potential. Priyanka Kothari is the new avatar of Ramu's previous discovery Nisha Kothari. She has indeed improved a lot and looks stunning. However, one may not like her shedding clothes. Gautam Rode keeps throwing tantrums at the heroine for no rhyme or reason. Howard Rosemeyer goes on nibbling pencil! One wonders if it's an Indian version of 'The Blair Witch Project', and the audience would like it. The director tries to fill the screenplay gap with the camera work coupled with background score, but in vain.
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Though RGV kept the climax of his upcoming movie a secret even from the lead stars of the movie, it seems that 'Agyaat' (unknown) has become 'gyat' (known) to everyone. It was said that Ramu had shot more than 4 climax scenes for the film so that no one is able to know of the exact suspense of the film, but all in vain. The climax shows the lead pair of the film - Nitin and Nisha Kothari - still trapped in the jungle, struggling to find their way out, may find place in the sequel to 'Agyaat'. Varma is pleasantly surprised that the movie is released on more screens than any of his earlier films despite not boasting of big stars. The horror thriller opens on 740 screens in Hindi and 220 in Telugu. Incidentally, this is a movie with the genre being the star in an otherwise no big star film.
