Agyaat Movie Reviews

Ramgopal Varma thinks differently. This time too the maverick film-maker defies the stereotype and takes to the dense forests of Sri Lanka to meet an 'unknown' force. But let's clear the misconception at the very start. AGYAAT is no supernatural thriller [like PHOONK] or a horror fest [like BHOOT]. This one's more of an adventure thriller that doesn't scare you at all, but makes you a participant in a pulse-pounding journey.

At a running time of one hour and forty minutes, Ramgopal Varma's Agyaat is an interesting experiment that doesn't overstay its welcome. When a film unit goes into a forest for shooting, an unknown, inexplicable entity begins killing them one by one. With everyone's lives at stake, hierarchal differences in the team no longer matter; each must fend for himself, and soon people's real personalities begin to surface.

Now this one's a big disappointment from a director who has already proved his forte with the horror genre with goosebump Now this one's a big disappointment from a director who has already proved his forte with the horror genre with goosebump films like Bhoot and Raat. Even Darna Mana Hai had its moments, as did his earlier foray into the danger-infested forest, Jungle. But Agyaat is completely cold meat. It neither thrills nor chills with its repetitive running-for-life sequences

There's a very thin line between a truly scary horror film, and one that looks like a comedy. Even a classic like The Evil Dead is no exception. It may have chilled your spine when you saw it as a kid, but you break into guffaws every time you see scenes from the film now. Agyaat is so far past this line - that a horror filmmaker dreads - that it's not even funny. This could very well have been called Ram Gopal Varma Ki 'Aag'yat.

A spooky adventure set in a dense jungle is an interesting premise. And when you have someone like Ram Gopal Varma at the helm, you go in expecting a paisa-vasool thriller. Sadly, Agyaat is as tame as the cuddly elephant in the film. The film begins with a movie unit heading into the wilderness for a shoot. It includes an arrogant superstar (Gautam Rode; in love with himself), upcoming heroine (Priyanka Kothari; in love with her body)

I just got back from Agyaat and I am not done laughing yet. Ram Gopal Varma's thriller is seriously, decidedly, indisputably funny -- in the ridiculous dialogues recycled by the characters (seems the writers ran out of words), in the forced, schmaltzy romantic interludes, and even the way almost all the characters in this ensemble cast are hurriedly bumped off or turn suicidal so that the lead pair can carry on with their lives.

Sometimes terror has no form, reads the promo line of Agyaat. Well, sometimes, a film has no form too, as Ram Gopal Varma proves with his latest venture, which should have ideally stayed unknown forever. Agyaat is supposed to be a horror/adventure film, but instead it just turns out to be horrible, and the only adventure seems to be in buying a ticket and sitting through this garbage. At no point does the story, scene or any of the characters really scare or touch you in any manner.