00:00You know what's the truly scary part of Booth Part 1, The Haunted Ship?
00:04The makers seem to suggest there's going to be a part 2.
00:13Here's my review of Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal's Booth Part 1, The Haunted Ship.
00:18As the title suggests, the movie is set mostly in this gigantic, rusty vessel that's marooned in Juhu, a beach in Mumbai.
00:26It's based on a true life incident and is directed by Bhanu Pratap Singh.
00:31He's a first time director and you have an actor, a seasoned, a national award winning actor like Vicky Kaushal who plays the lead.
00:39He plays a marine surveyor called Prithvi and he is battling personal grief when his wife and child dies in a freaky drowning accident.
00:49When they're river rafting as a family, there's an accident and he loses both his wife and daughter.
00:56He's still struggling to gain closure.
00:58This movie will remind you of Talash starring Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerji.
01:04They were so good as actors in that that you felt for the grieving parents.
01:09But somehow here with Vicky Kaushal, you don't connect with his grief as much.
01:14You see his tears but you don't feel for it.
01:16You look at it as a bystander who'd rub her neck when seeing an accident on the road.
01:22You don't empathize with him which is a shame because usually Vicky Kaushal is in top form.
01:27But somehow here, he's not able to muster the same kind of grief that you would feel for a parent struggling with survivor guilt.
01:35He's the only one who has survived that tragedy and he has ghosts from the past that continue to haunt him.
01:43For him, in a day's work, it's about talking to his dead daughter and seeing his dead wife who want to come back to his life.
01:50So his life is riddled with nightmares.
01:54It takes a long time for the movie to gain steam.
01:57By then, the scares are not many.
01:59So till the interval, this mood is being set.
02:02And I think that is sad because they took too long to get the actual thrills and scares going.
02:07By then, it feels a bit too old.
02:09Most of the action and the scary sequences are set inside the rusty ship.
02:14Despite being scared silly by some paranormal beings inside the ship,
02:18he continues to return to the ship.
02:21This is like the cinematic equivalent of reading a Nancy Drew novel perhaps.
02:26She was this immature young American detective who always saves the day.
02:31Similarly, Prithvi also seems to be this young man who's on this perennial quest
02:35to save these living souls trapped inside the vessel.
02:39The story is what happened to them and the backstory is pretty ridiculous and it is over the top.
02:45In fact, the acting by those in the flashback is actually quite laughable.
02:51There's also seasoned actor Ashutosh Rana,
02:53who's reduced to the tired trope of being a ghost whisperer
02:57who chants so that he can scare the ghosts away.
03:00You have seen that in other horror films.
03:02But I thought Bollywood had progressed but clearly not.
03:05We are still stuck in that era.
03:07However, this movie is very high on the technical finesse and the cinematography.
03:12The grey palette that dominates every screen and that choppy waters
03:16kind of reflects the mood that the hero is in.
03:19He is also equally troubled like the choppy seas.
03:22All of that is used very effectively.
03:24And I have to say that full marks has to go to director Bhanu Pratap Singh
03:28and the cinematographer for staying away from those tired tropes like shutting doors etc.
03:35There are some genuine scares in this one
03:37but there's not enough to keep you invested throughout the movie.
03:40There are times when you fidget in your seat more out of boredom
03:43than because you're feeling squeamish.
03:45If you're expecting to be startled and jolted out of your seat,
03:49then this is not the movie for you.
03:51This movie is good for a one-time watch if you are a strict fan of Vicky Kaushal
03:55because there's something very pleasing about this actor.
03:58He has that kind of goodwill and that pleasing personality
04:01and the kind of screen presence that you would watch him constantly.
04:05But somehow the movie doesn't do him full justice.
04:08The fact that the movie ended with a potential sequel is a bit scary
04:13and that's what truly scared me.
04:15I'm going with 2 out of 5.
04:17For my full review go to gulfnews.com
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