Darna Zaroori Hai

Darna Zaroori Hai is Ram Gopal Varma’s latest experiment. Like Darna Mana Hai, this film is also a collection of independent short films (but this time, the films have been directed by different directors) linked by a common thread ‘fear’. Some stories work better than the others but the film is definitely an interesting attempt.

I really liked the stories in Darna Mana Hai. Only one was pretty eerie and could legitimately be called a horror short. But the others had clever stories, good twists and most importantly, a sense of closure. I especially liked the one with Vivek Oberoi and Nana Patekar and the one with Aftab. The weakest part of that film was the main story that bookended the shorts.

Darna Zaroori Hai keeps intact many of the good aspects of its predecessor. The short films all have uniformly good performances from actors who manage to slip comfortably into their roles. The films create a good, heavy atmosphere and throw in some good surprises that keep them from getting too predictable. And to lend credit to the ‘horror film’ tag, there are also some nice ‘Boo!’ moments that cause us to jump in our seats.

But many of the stories end up being vaguely disappointing. They have good build-ups but the conclusions are rather unsatisfying. They seem to end too abruptly and provide little closure.

The first episode with Manoj Pahwa is the best of the lot. Inspite of resorting to clichés, it succeeds in creating an eerie setting. More importantly, it is very clever and tongue-in-cheek (it takes digs at RGV’s own Darna Mana Hai and ends brilliantly). The episode with Arjun Rampal and Bipasha Basu and the one with Randeep and Zakir Husain are also satisfying since they contain a few scares, nice twists and give us closure. The episode with Amitabh and Ritesh and the one with Suneil Shetty and Rajpal Yadav are disappointing but contain good performances. Amitabh as a harried professor and Rajpal as a weird insurance agent are great. The episode with Anil Kapoor and a fully-clothed Mallika Sherawat falls between the two.

As an experiment, Darna Zaroori Hai stands tall. But as entertainment, it falls a little short.