Zid (2014)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Evil Wins. Maya is innocent. dont watch or you won't get those 2 hours back EVER.....

This is new era of movie generation in India. Excellent movie. Great ending. No one could have predicted the ending. Don't wanna disclose more. But if you enjoy Fight Club, Memento, The Prestige, Shawshank Redemption, The others, Sixth Sense and others, then you must watch this movie with full of twists and turns....Keeps you guessing....there are dull moments which are there in most bollywood movies....I loved this movie till the end...it kept my mind swirling around with my own guesses...but what an ending.....genius.....This movie is not for everyone but who loves suspense and darker side of the story, would love it.......

There are certain films that need to be released despite being a bad product, just to get rid of them by their makers as they themselves clearly know about the mess but can do nothing about it quite helplessly. ZID is another of those ill-fated projects which though had a fairly interesting plot of becoming an engaging thriller but turns out to be so amateurishly presented and enacted film that one really feels annoyed thinking about the fact that it was supposedly the launch vehicle of another good looking girl from the Chopra family with an inspired foreign angle too.Loosely adapted from a German film, UNTER NACHBARN/THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR (2011) and re-scripted again with typical Bollywood kind of insertions, it's a perfect case wherein a fine plot gets ruined by the re-writers focusing more on erotica than the mystery element.ZID is the debut film of Mannara (earlier known with a different name), who is another cousin of Priyanka Chopra post Parineeti making her own reputed place in the industry. And it is said that the movie was approved by Priyanka only to go ahead. God knows what she saw in the project/script to recommend!Reportedly director Vivek Agnihotri prepared Mannara for her strange/difficult kind of role, completed more than half of the film and then walked away due to some undisclosed differences, which rightly explains its directionless proceedings post intermission like a lost wandering child.The film has more than 5-6 songs and a quite deliberate and at your face kind of skin show, probably added later to make it commercially viable catering a particular section of viewers in the smaller centers. However, surprisingly the songs are not that bad in comparison to many other big films but fail to make an impact along with an average cinematography and background score due to all mediocre & uninteresting sequences on the screen generating no interest whatsoever.In short, if you wish to learn how acting can be interpreted as screaming, emoting weirdly, showing cleavages, kissing wildly and more, then you should ideally see ZID, which is an excellent example of how even a suspense murder mystery can turn out to be so boring and irritating watch at times. Having a pretty confused script, strangely adapted from a foreign film with fine ratings, it simply tests the patience of the viewers and is strongly not recommended, particularly to the fans of this exciting genre. You would not be able to bear it for more than two hours.

Story: Rohan Achrekar is a crime reporter with the daily who is nursing a broken heart. Estranged girlfriend Priya has stopped responding to him. He needs to move on and to initiate that he takes a home in the woods. Maya, the daughter of the landlord has an air of mystery to herself. She is positively smitten by him and can't get enough of him. Amidst all this, after a drunken night the two have an accident where Nancy is killed. Nancy is the younger sister of Priya. Maya and Rohan shush up on it and run away from the spot. Story leads to a series of mishaps and murders and Maya's obsession for Rohan keeps growing.Is jealousy leading her to murder those close to Rohan or is it all a botched up plan of Rohan and Priya to resolve permanently some old sibling rivalries?Performances: Manara is radiant to look at. Resembling Parineeti Chopra a lot in many ways, the actress misses the enthusiasm and expertise of her sisters. She needs a good deal more of experience before she attains the same.Karanvir is quite competent in comparison. Though his acting too can do with some polishing, the actor has done a decent job.Shradha Das in her minuscule role was good and shares quite a sparkling chemistry with Karan even if it hardly has any screen space.Mohan Kapoor is a veteran and though barely used he was great.Direction & screenplay: Vivek Agnihotri had found a fan in me with Buddha In A Traffic Jam but the filmmaker's stark disparities in the standard of films shock me. He is on extremes. Either he is bloody brilliant or when he is bad or mediocre, he is way below his caliber. I trust him to make a better film, but Zid was plain dumb. I understand the story isn't any genius but the director often structures the film such that it can run chills down your spine. The first point of put off is its depressing setting. Gloomy and raining; I stop to wonder does these stereotypes come with thrillers. The film is devoid of light and colors. The screenplay isn't fast enough for a thriller and the build up is more irritating than enticing. Once the climax was done, I bought the story giving it the benefit of being just another stereotypical thriller but the anticlimax left me so disappointed. It was anything but extraordinary, rather it left too many loose ends untied in the end. The music wasn't up to my taste and the film's end made me thank my stars for having the strength enough to survive it.The last word: Zid is not cringe worthy, just plain boring. Selling itself in the garb of a few explicit shots, the film's fabric did not back itself in a solid enough story. It doesn't have anything exemplary about it, not its acting, story or the chemistry between its lead pair. The worst thing about Zid was its climax that was downright silly. It's almost like a bunch of intelligent people thought of doing a crash course in making a silly film and Zid was made. I am going with a very kind Rating of 1/10.