Ek Thi Daayan (2013)

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

For an audience that has gotten used to spooky flicks that range from scary to sorcery, flying ghosts, witches, sudden shock element, etc., it is incredibly tough to come up with something new. This is especially true of Bollywood that has seen an overdose of Ram Gopal Verma flicks. Amidst all the gloom comes a refreshing 'Ek Thi Daayan' with a gripping story, although the climax goes tad haywire.Magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) is a successful magician who suddenly is being troubled by strange visions. When hypnotized, it is revealed that he holds a dark secret to how his sister and father died and the story being the spooky elevator in the building where he lived as a child. The more he seems to dig into the past to unearth its antecedents, the deeper he gets into the mystic world. Not any more should be revealed about the story because it is a worthy suspense. The first thing I did after watching 'Ek Thi Daayan' was to Google out the difference between a 'Chudail' and a 'Daayan'. As it turns out from a random web page, a 'Chudail' is an ugly demon that emerges when a woman dies during childbirth and lives in remote areas. A 'Daayan' is a beautiful enchantress that has become one on account of harassment during her lifetime and therefore attacks men and usually lives in urban areas. Whoa, who could ever guess that!!Some of its songs are impressive. The best of those is 'Yaaram' that's performed at the housewarming hosted by Lisa, followed by the eerie 'Lautungi Main' but Punjabi flavored 'Totey Ud Gaye' sounds lame. A few more impressive numbers could have carried 'Ek Thi Daayan' even further. The choice of locations is impressive. The opening scenes are filmed at Gurgaon's "Kingdom of Dreams" which stages an extravaganza of sound and light with impressive transitions, a must see for those visiting the region. The locations for the eerie home and the lift are neat too. The hypnotic background in the psychiatrist's office is an interesting piece of decor and serves as a backdrop to some key scenes. Talking about acting performances, Emraan Hashmi does what is best at. It's amazing that despite such type-cast roles and similar performance in all films, his movies still work well at the Box Office. But, Konkona is the better actor in this film. Kalki and Huma Qureishi also do reasonably well. The Verdict: Unfortunately, not much of the story can be discussed in a review without revealing a bit of the suspense. So, if you want to know what it is, it is better to catch it while it is still in the cinema halls. This is surely not a movie that you could wait till it comes on TV. Although one shouldn't watch it with exalted hopes, since it fizzles out towards the end, you wouldn't regret watching it at all.

First of all sorry for my bad English.As a big horror fan, watched a lot of horror movies like insidious, saw, sinister, a woman in black, shutter (2004) i expect a lot from this movie after watching the promo and i can say that this movie doesn't work. Even Ragini MMS creates a better horror than this crap. if you hardy see a horror movie then you will like it.In this movie there are total 4 scenes in which you jumped out from your seat. I don't know why this movie make. without any plot, without any story and it is very predictable. It ends in a typical Indian style(action and over drama).A good and well written first half. Screenplay better than other movies of the Genre. Konkona Sen Sharma was the highlight of the first half.But she has done more brilliant works in her other movies and second half if just filled with nonsense things as in other horror movies like 1920.very bored don't go for it

Review : We were invited to the Ek Thi Daayan movie premier. We went to the premier without high expectations, and boy I was surprised! I haven't seen the trailer either. After a great hype on the movie it was a great outcome at the end. Story was very riveting.This film is paced quite slowly but thanks to the originality of the story we're kept interested however this movie could have easily been a bit shorter to quicken things up more. Director could have done a better job, he was inconsistent, the lack of experience in the field of direction was visible.The story was very fascinating. Thanks to the writers, it's not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry (story), the plot stands out of them all… The biggest part of a Thriller movie is its Climax and I must say the climax was Baaang-On. I was Flabbergasted to be frank.The plot is unique, in that it relies on imagination and psychology to scare you and make you think twice about the world around you. I genuinely did not know about the ending until it was revealed. Quite a shock!Emraan Hashmi turns in a stellar performance, complimenting his co-stars while never overshadowing them. It is a tribute to his respect of the material in so much as he fine tunes his delivery to seem reserved, yet not too toned down. It is such a relief that the performances of Hashmi and the excellent Kalki live up to an excellently written quality storyline.As for the twist at the end? Well it totally disoriented me, my mind spinning back throughout the whole film.To be honest, the biggest minus of the movie is the director himself, the booooooring second half is completely his fault . He tried to experiment a lot, which was un-called for.Cast Performance : Emraan Hashmi : Undoubtedly, its one of his best works and his performance stands out of all the casts. He is the one who carried the whole movie on his shoulders.Konkona Sen Sharma : Did a fantastic job and was justifiable enough. She did live up to the expectations.Kalki Koechlin : Her part was a bit confusing, her character was a bit messy but she did a splendid job.Huma Qureshi She could have done a better Job….Huma Qureshi : She did a decent job. A mixed performance.Indian Box Office Online Verdict : If you don't mind a slow pace then this unique little gem is very rewarding. At the end of the day, ''Its not that regular Bhootiya Isshtoorry, the plot stands out of them all, it's surely is an Experimental Plot, but not written by an Idiot."

I was eagerly waiting for Ek Thi Dayaan since last one month and had to struggle to watch it on Friday night in a Multiplex in Mumbai after clearing a hectic schedule of prior commitments. Well, it was a sense of relief as the film didn't disappointed me. So go ahead and read it to decide if you want to watch this movie or not.Emraan Hashmi, Bobo, the magician is in a live-in relationship with Tamra, a beautiful girl played by Huma Qureshi. He has a wonderful life as he is a successful magician, has a beautiful girlfriend and the couple want to adopt a lovable orphan kid. But wait; there is a haunting past which keeps knocking every now and then in front of Bobo as he remembers his childhood life; when he had an adorable father, a sweet little sister and his step mom Diana whom he hated her.The story swings between Psychological Thriller, Paranormal and Supernatural situations forcing the audience to keep guessing on what lies behind the spooky events that unfolds every now and then in the film.The events no doubt are scary and chill the bottom of your seat and even force you to jump out of your seat once or twice. The scenes where he thinks that the lift of his building goes to the hell where all the creepy people of his building who did sins in their life now stay in the hell of the building after their death scares you like hell. The mystery behind spotting a witch through the help of a book on Witches makes you think whether the witches are a reality. After a long time I get to see the right kind of haunting cinema from the Bollywood which is different from the usual Vikram Bhatt movies.Enters a psychiatrist who had counseled Bobo earlier and then he hypnotizes him to go back to his past and reveal on how his father and his sister died. But the beauty of this revelation lies in the fact that whether this is a real revelation or just a story cooked up the disturbed mind of the magician Bobo. His fiancée Tamra, with whom he gets married forces him to sell his old flat where he stayed as a kid to another character by the name Lisa Dutt played by Kalki Koechlin. There is a mystery around the character Lisa Dutt and Emraan Hashmi goes on to unlock this mystery. This is where the film loosens a bit and the climax goes on to follow a typical Vikram Bhatt or Ramsey style cinema.Emraan Hashmi has matured as an actor and has a proved screen presence. Huma Qureshi is bold, sensuous and acts well. She is one actor who will go a long way in Bollywood. Konkana Sen Sharma as the Stepmother does well in her Grey shades. The supporting cast played by Pawan Malhotra who plays the father of Emraan Hashmi also plays his part well. I really liked the role of Psychiatrist played by Rajatava Dutta and of younger Emraan Hashmi played by Vishesh Tiwari.Kannan Iyer as the débutant director gets a thumbs up as he tries to break away from the typical thriller and horror movies that are being made in Bollywood. He manages to scare his audience and entertain as well. The script and screenplay is good and Vishal Bhardwaj stands up to his name. Not to forget we get to see the magic of Gulzaar Saab lyrics again as we can't stop hearing, humming and appreciating the song "Yaaram" from the movie.Overall, the movie is a good watch and takes you on a drive to the mystery world of witches, hell, hallucination and horror.