Roohi Review
Introduction
It is a monday yet we have a packed week of new releases pending so lets get started. I watched the horror-comedy Roohi on Netflix last night. After the super success of Stree which was in a way a great step ahead in the horror comedy space, the makers followed it up with a fresh story. This film had a theatrical release but I had then decided to wait for the OTT release owing to the pandemic and the negative reviews that it had got. Well is it worth your time, stay tuned.
Story & Screenplay
Roohi follows the story of two men who kidnap potential brides for a living in order to get them married. This until, they kidnap a girl who is possessed. The story on paper seems to be a perfect fit in the horror and comedy genre. But the screenplay is a letdown. Two of the most important aspects in this space is that you must be able to make the audience laugh hysterically which also creating an atmosphere of spook that will send a shiver down the spines of the audience. Sadly, apart from one jump scare, Roohi fails in both aspects. The setup is decent but the scenes get repetitive and also silly in the middle. Things are slightly better in the second half but somehow things don’t gel well. The humour is flat throughout. The open ended climax which was heavily criticised was for me an interesting and bold end. Had the writers taken more risks such as this in the rest of the screenplay, Roohi would have been on par with Stree. Sadly here, it falls short.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues try hard to make you laugh but they fall woefully short. The music is good and I did enjoy the soundtrack. The BGM is good but I had an issue with the use of it. There were scenes where the BGM should have been held back, but instead you get a loud BGM to underline that you need to be scared. Director Hardik Mehta who directed one of my favourite films of last year Kaamyaab, misses the mark here. Though to be fair his direction is not bad, but he fails to create an atmosphere of spook and needless to say the humour just isn’t there.
Performances
Manav Vij as Guniya is decent. Varun Sharma as Kattani has just not got out of his Fukrey mode. He is now getting repetitive and needs to try something drastically different. Rajkummar Rao as Bhawra is good but he is also suffering from the syndrome which Sumeet Vyas is going through. His choices are not up to the mark, infact they need drastic improvement. A talented actor else will go wasted, as he is here. Janhvi Kapoor as Roohi has done a very good job here. Credit to the writers too for sticking to her strengths. She was not given too many dialogues to work with and she really does well and comes out on top.
Conclusion
Roohi lacks the execution of Stree with some insipid humour that makes it just about an average affair. Available on Netflix.