Haunted is India's first stereo-scopic 3D horror movie. It's a Vikram Bhat film starring Mahakshay Chakraborty as the main lead. I didn't know that Mahakshay is Mithun Chakraborty's son till today. Although, he is still quite new in the acting world with a few flops to his credit but Haunted received positive reviews from critics over all. In fact, I must say that everybody in the movie did act quite well.
I am a huge fan of horror movies since forever be it in any language and from any country. Indian cinema has always touched upon the horror genre even when it is not such a commercial hit. Recently, I've suffered immensely at the hands of Hollywood horror movies. They may start all fine but by the end they lose track of all logic in an incredible way and that makes the entire experience quite shitty. Haunted is not like so many haunted house movies that I've watched in many days.
It has an interesting plot. The story begins with Rehan (Mahakshay) visiting the mountain areas of Koti where he has to look after Glen Manor - a mansion that his brokerage firm is disposing off on behalf of a client. However, when Rehan reaches Glen Manor he gets to know that one of his servants at the mansion died in strange circumstances due to heart attack. The other servants at the mansion tell Rehan a different story about the house being haunted and that they won't work there anymore. Thus, Rehan has to spend 10 days in the mansion alone till the new owners of the mansion visit Glen Manor.
However, on the very first night Rehan witnesses the presence of strange supernatural beings in the mansion. He hears screams of a girl. The next day he had no doubt in his mind that the mansion was haunted but the house's owner doesn't reveal anything to him. As he spends a few more days, each night he is revealed more with the screams of the girl getting louder and louder. He gets to know through a suicide letter in a book that 80 years ago, a young girl named Meera lived in the mansion. While her parents were away on a short trip, her sick music teacher Mr. Ayyer tries to rape her and she ends up killing him while protecting herself. However, killing the psychotic teacher opens a miserable chapter in Meera's life.
Ayyer's evil soul becomes more powerful and he kills all the servants at the house and then obsessed with Meera his spirit rapes her in a torturous way at night. The girl couldn't take the misery till her parents returned and she ended up killing herself to escape from the torture. The saddest part about the story is that Meera's soul is trapped in the mansion with that of Ayyer's evil spirit and he rapes her very night for the following 80 years.
Rehan couldn't bear the pain and screams of Meera and wants to help her, although she is already dead. So, the rest of the story goes on to show how Rehan will help Meera from all the suffering although they belong to very different eras.
I liked the story greatly. I'm not sure if this is an original story or adapted from somewhere else. The 3D part, however, doesn't change a lot for my over all analysis. Yes, some of the scenes were quite nicely done. The only turn off were the scenes where they try to show Ayyer as the evil spirit and when he takes on the body of Meera's guardian. They were quite fake and funny. Especially the scenes where the spirit was flying in the forest was so funny rather than scary.
But overall, I have to say I strongly recommend people to watch Haunted if you like horror movies. It's not going to disappoint you and as an additional cherry you're going to love the music since it's quite superb.
