Film review: 'Alone', frightfully funny

Can the horror genre possibly sink any further in Bollywood, Enid Parker asks

Two and a half precious hours of a weekend wasted. I’ll bet that’s what most viewers who saw Alone with me on Thursday night were thinking. The Hindi film industry appears to have plummeted to new lows with the so-called ‘horror’ film, which tells the story of Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) being haunted by the ghost of a conjoined twin.

Any potential the seemingly interesting plot may have had is frittered away by a ridiculously weak script, wooden acting, annoying song interludes, a tasteless skin show and no real frights to speak of.

There was little that was even remotely terrifying or original about Alone – the same old creepy grey ghostly faces and sound effects for shock value time and again did little to jolt us out of our seats. People were seen yawning, fidgeting with their phones, commenting frequently on the monotony of the scenes and laughing outright at some of the ‘scary’ ones. Definitely not the reaction the cast and crew of a horror film go looking for.

And despite rumours of Bipasha and Karan striking up a close friendship in real life, there appeared to be zero chemistry between them on screen, but that’s probably the least of their troubles.

Needless to say Alone is definitely not going to be a career boost for Ms Basu who has had more misses than hits at the box office in recent times. And what exactly was popular TV actor Karan Singh Grover thinking when he decided to play Bipasha’s hunky yet clueless husband Kabir in what will surely become the most forgettable debut ever? He appears ill at ease throughout, his stilted acting anything but convincing.

A review wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the many completely unnecessary intimate scenes between Karan and Bipasha – the inclusion of song Katra Katra feels like nothing but a cheap attempt to titillate the audience into accepting the film’s mediocrity.

Some comic relief comes in the form of Sulbha Arya, who plays Bipasha’s domestic help, but there is little relief otherwise for the exasperated viewer. After a while even the unintentional scary-funny scenes fail to elicit a smile.

The only redeeming factor is a plot twist which perhaps not many people would have seen coming. But by then you have stopped caring, really, and all you want to do is exit the theatre, your faith in Hindi horror films – and Bipasha Basu - greatly shaken.

Perhaps wanting to shake off her ‘horror queen’ tag, the actress recently spoke to media about abandoning the genre for something new. For her sake and ours we hope this translates to quality roles which so many contemporary actresses are pursuing nowadays. In the meantime we hope the ghost of Alone has been buried for good and doesn’t return to haunt us.