‘Shaitaan’ movie review: R Madhavan makes the mean monster shine opposite Ajay Devgn in this horror show

R Madhavan in ‘Shaitaan’

Across the world, daddy-saving-daughter tales preserve many getting older motion heroes in the field workplace race. After Drishyam and Bholaa, this is the third movie in a row the place Ajay Devgn performs an overprotective father working towards time to avoid wasting his sweetheart from a monster. While in Bholaa, the motion star’s invincibility was hardly in doubt, in Shaitaan, like Drishyam, he’s up towards an imposing wall known as R. Madhavan making the contest much more even and therefore partaking.

Interestingly, like Drishyam, the story of Shaitaan is drawn from a regional movie. Director Vikas Bahl, who’s making an attempt a brand new style in each movie with various success, has tailored the Gujarati movie Vash to create a frantic sensory expertise. It is tough to promote a supernatural prevalence in 2024 however Vikas manages to strike an emotional chord with a sceptical viewers, the approach Ram Gopal Varma used to do as soon as upon a time.

The story is straightforward and initially offers the impression that it has already been informed in the 140-second trailer. Ajay and Jyothika play an city couple who’re struggling to maintain their worldly-wise youngsters in test. On a visit to their farmhouse, they arrive throughout a stranger named Vanraaj (Madhavan). Initially, he looks as if an amiable gentleman who wants somewhat assist however quickly he exhibits his true colors and seems to be an English-speaking occultist who has possessed their daughter Janvi (Janaki Bodiwala).

It is the nimble remedy and creepy twists that make Shaitaan leap at you at instances in the darkness of a multiplex. For occasion, in make-or-break conditions, Vanraaj asks Janvi to giggle or dance, making certain the sense of helplessness of fogeys percolates by way of the display. A number of credit score goes to Krishnadev Yagnik’s story which is conscious of creating the characters go barely towards the lay viewers’s expectation from a supernatural setup.

Madhavan, who is understood to play docile characters in Hindi movies, is forged towards sort, making the eerie expertise relatable. He lends Vanraaj a pitch that oscillates between lifelike and larger-than-life. If Ajay faucets the weak aspect of a father, Madhavan explores the mean streak of the demon nicely. Similarly, Jyothika lends freshness to the mom’s function and gives a component of shock for individuals who have grown up on the romantic beats of Madhavan and Jyothika in Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001). Janaki, who reprises the half she performed in the unique, isn’t dangerous both.

Had Vanraaj been given a reputable backstory, the movie would have gotten much more depth or one ought to say Gehrayee (1980), the Aruna-Vikas basic horror that was additionally a few woman possessed by a spirit. It had a powerful undercurrent on the horrors of lopsided growth however right here, from the appeal of faux information to the spell of a demagogue on blind followers, there are many prospects and metaphors that appear ready to be addressed however the writers choose to maintain it a straight battle between black and white. Even the verdant potential of a reputation like Vanraaj and the presence of transgenders in his crew have neither been exploited nor explored.

Perhaps, the proven fact that Devgn can be the co-producer of the movie got here in the approach. Perhaps, the makers sought to retain the U/A certificates for a horror movie that showcases black magic with a disclaimer that it doesn’t assist it. Otherwise, with somewhat extra writer assist, it might have grow to be a Madhavan show all the approach. After a wise flourish in the denouement, the post-script feels pressured to maintain the heroic standing of Ajay intact however it’s Madhavan who makes positive that one shuts the door the subsequent time one comes throughout a smooth-talking stranger.

Shaitaan is at present working in theatres