'Ghost Stories': Not your regular horror stories.

Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Surekha Sikri, Vijay Varma, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sagar Arya, Pavail Gulati, Sukant Goel, Gulshan Devaiah, Mrunal Thakur, Avinash Tiwary, Aditya Shetty, Eva Ameet Pardeshi

Director: Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar

The third of the four-directors anthology, after Bombay talkie and Lust Stories, Ghost stories is not the ‘horror’ you were looking for. Having worked on many out-of-the-box narratives, Zoya Akhtar was expectant of the unconventional, however, the first segment, starring Jahnvi Kapoor, turned out to be a predictable story. The story set in an old Bombay flat, with a creepy looking old lady, and Jahnvi playing the lone caretaker, the premise is set for some heart racing events. However, the only heart racing sequence is at the end, with a low laying camera angle, with a bit of stop motion and Jahnvi’s expressions to reveal the truth, the plot has nothing more to offer. Expectations were definitely higher! Similarly, the fourth segment by Karan Johar also revolved around the cliched concepts of horror. Set in the millennial times, the Karan Johar touch is definitely there, with bourgeoisie weddings and mansions a newly-wed wife finds herself amidst some old age craziness, and the ghost of her husband’s Granny haunting. The segment fails to invoke horror and is rather a straightforward narrative, with only the mansion playing its role beautifully.

Stepping away from the contemporary ‘ghost stories’, Anuragh Kashyap’s segment works on the grounds of a psychological thriller. With Shobhita Dhulipala as the lead, Kashyap uses the conventional pregnant woman and live-looking dolls and an obsessive nephew. The colors used are cold and the setting, easy to navigate the camera, more like a one-shot film. The psychological thriller, with Neha (Shobhita Dhulipala’s character) being obsessed with crows, and eager to have a baby. There are jaw dropping instances like Neha emerging large, black, crow wings and the introduction of the huge human-like crow, feeding on perhaps a human baby. The imagery is stunning, the sounds speeding up the slow-paced sequences. The segment reminded me of Natalie Portman’s Black Swan, the imagery resembled, the psychological impact is similar and the husband depicted as evil as the ballet trainer. The crooked character is played well by Dhulipala, but the story was surely not a dose of freshness.

The third segment by Dibakar Banerjee is perhaps the best from the four. The story does not literally justify the title Ghost Stories, however, reading between the lines, it is an appropriate fit in today's time. With striking dialogues, delivered by children, the story has a bit of truthfulness. The plot set in a burned down village, scared of the big townees, there are tones of cannibalism, the drastic gap between the poor and the rich. It resembles the current times, depicted with a harsh story-line of zombies. The children being the narrators of the events, they have understood the tricks and trades of survival. The end sequence reveals the rich, the powerful seamlessly ignoring the poor, making them the outcasts. The themes of power, helpless poor and the political horrors have been touched upon. The characterization seemed a bit artificial and made up, however, the ones willing to see can see the contrasting themes of no connectivity, humans killing humans and the burned down state the country is.

All in all, this anthology was unable to deliver the expected freshness, and the attempt to depict ‘ghost stories’ in their own manners, the directors presented with some crooked, and some read between the lines stories.

Images from Google