Finance
A young woman returns to a Rajasthan ‘haveli’ where she spent her childhood after a long absence and is plagued by dark dreams. Her father is not present to greet her. Days pass and he is nowhere to be found. A gaslight lantern left winking on the floor is the only evidence that someone was there, as ghostly figures flit behind curtains. Things happen in the middle of the night. And every time Meesha (Sara Ali Khan) brings up these terrifying occurrences with the sultry siren (Chitrangada Singh), who is firmly ensconced in the mansion, she is told she is hallucinating.
The setup is ideal for a slushy thriller, and the cast is diverse, but the film never really takes off. There is discord between Meesha’s royal parents is evident at a birthday party, which we see in flashback: that something drastic has happened to the ‘rani-sa’ and that the ‘raja’ is missing, comes as no surprise.
The unease that begins to envelop the older Meesha, who is now in a wheelchair due to an accident, is also predictable. But none of the film’s mystery tropes – unexplained noises, a black-robed soothsayer entering a trance, the family dog barking at suspicious movements – heightens the suspense. The whole thing devolves into a drone far too quickly.
Akshay Oberoi, who plays an entitled prince and Meesha’s distant cousin with a degree of flash, is the only actor who rises above his lines. The rest of the cast, including Sara Ali Khan, who desperately needs a role with substance, and Vikrant Massey, who can usually be counted on to make us look, have little impact.
There’s one memorable scene in which a character is brutally murdered against the sand dunes. The stark shadows cast by the victim and the killer in the dead of night, takes the film straight into noir territory. It causes you to stand up and take notice. ‘Gaslight’ could have used more of those scenes.
Gaslight movie cast: Sara Ali Khan, Chitrangada Singh, Vikrant Massey, Akshay Oberoi, Rahul Dev, Shishir Sharma
Gaslight movie director: Pavan Kirpalani
Gaslight movie rating: 1.5 stars
Source:IE
