Movie Review: Lupt
2.0/5
Harsh Tandon (Jaaved Jaaferi) is a successful businessman who lives only for work. He is cajoled by his wife Shalini (Niki Aneja Walia) into taking a vacation to which he says no initially but later, at the advise of his psychiatrist says yes as he has been having trouble sleeping and has been seeing visions. The family, comprising daughter Tanu (Meenakshi Dixit), son Sam (Rishab Chadha), Tanu’s boyfriend Rahul (Karan Anand) as well as both parents decide to undertake a road trip. On the way to Nainital from Lucknow, they take a detour which proves dangerous as they encounter supernatural elements bent on destroying them...Director Prabhuraj has hit upon the right idea -- that of an American ‘cabin in the woods’ slasher film -- but fails to give it the required touches. First of all, the body count is too low. Only two people die. That’s hardly the point of a horror film. Then, the deaths aren’t gruesome enough. We don’t get a shiver down our spines when they occur. The ghosts -- whether it’s the little girl or her mom aren’t fear-inducing either. They both look like the makeup dada has applied much talcum powder and has overdone the mascara. The theme -- that of karma biting people in the bum one fine day is as old as the hills as well. In his frenzy to whip up horror, Prabhuraj has piled on jump cuts aplenty and has used high pitched eerie music -- which too doesn’t work after a while. It would have been fun if the family turned on each other and started hacking one another -- there were enough sharp-looking instruments lying around the outhouse in which they take shelter but sadly such things don’t happen. Weird is the key to successful horror or suspense is the answer but here both elements are missing. The films starts off as a horror film but sadly finishes as a moralistic tale.
Vijay Raaz has been taken just to wear oversized coats and look mysterious -- which he manages to do with plenty of conviction -- otherwise his character has zero say in the story. Jaaved Jaaferi has of late made made a name in comedy and playing a character having grey shades must have come as a challenge for him. He looks fitter than both his son and future son-in-law in the film and tries gamely to rise himself above the shambolic proceedings. Rishab Chadha’s character -- that of a youngster who likes to play pranks -- had the most potential but is sadly not explored fully.
All-in-all, Lupt could have offered us so much more but falls short of its promise...
