Movie Review: Alone

STORY: Sanjana is madly in love with Kabir. All she wants is his uninterrupted time. Trouble is, her conjoined twin Anjana also desires exactly the same.

REVIEW: So what happens when conjoined twins Anjana and Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) make the same man, Kabir (Karan Singh Grover) the object of their desire? No prizes for guessing. The sisters end up despising one another and can hardly wait to go their separate ways (pun intended).

Unaware of the undercurrent of this emotion, Kabir, an advertising executive, (who ironically isn’t shown doing a single day’s work in the film), is working his butt off in Mumbai to give his dear wife Sanjana a luxurious lifestyle. However, wifey-dear is perpetually miffed with him for not spending any time with her. Tut, tut.

The couple feels that their shift from Kerala to Mumbai is pointless if they cannot even spend quality time together. And even though her mother (Neena Gupta) resides there, Sanjana’s not keen on returning to Kerala because of some skeletons left behind.

When circumstances take this young couple to a sprawling mansion in God’ own country, the spook fest begins.

Inspired by a 2007 Thai film by the same name, this Bollywood adaptation depends too heavily on creaking doors and a shrieking Sanjana to send a chill down your spine. She, who sees ghosts in every nook and corner of her childhood home, psyches herself and her wide-eyed husband. From taking his wife to a spiritual healer to making out with her in the idyllic locales, Kabir does everything in his power to drive away her fears.

When Sanjana saunters into the outhouse where Anjana and she played in their childhood, she is possessed by Anjana’s spirit. Post interval, it’s the ghost’s turn to romance the hero with the chiselled physique. In fact, the ghost lucks out – unlike Sanjana in the first half, the ghost even shares raunchy scenes with Kabir. Till this point, Alone indulges you.

The lovemaking scenes between Bipasha and Karan are racy. The supernatural turn in the conflict between the sisters does give you goosebumps. But the limited expertise of director Bhushan Patel (1920, Evil Returns, Ragini MMS) and actress Bipasha Basu (Raaz, Creature 3D) – in spite of their many ventures in this genre -allows Alone to deliver only superficial chills. The prolonged climax though it is full of twists, leaves you cold because it is too contrived. When you scratch the surface, you don’t end up scared shitless. And isn’t that what Alone is meant to do?

GENRE: Horror DURATION: 2 hours 13 minutes

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