Brilliantly Indian-ized Movie. Review on Ragini MMS

There is no doubt that Ragini MMS is a straightaway copy of Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project and LSD, but mixing is an art that only works when you mix it in the right way. The bad part of the movie is that people already know how the story will unfold eventually because most of us have already seen the original Hollywood versions, but I still recommend people to watch Ragini MMS.

I am always ready to watch horror movies and I think Ragini MMS is far better than recent horror movies like Haunted 3D where it was just the untimely screeching that fills in the silent movie halls. However, here director Pawan Kripalani has tried to do something very different and to some extent has been successful too.

The plot is as simple as a piece of cake where Uday (Raj Kumar Yadav) and Ragini (Kainaz Motivala) decide to go for a casual weekend, probably with sex on their mind. However, Uday has dirty plans under his sleeve as he plans to shoot a sex MMS of Ragini and sell it to some director so that he can get establish his career as an actor. The house already has hidden cameras at different angles and the couple are really happy to spend time together, but things get worse when they realize that the house is haunted and soon all hell break loose.

Let’s talk about the performance of both the lead actors. Raj Kumar Yadav continues to give us the same kind of performance as he did in LSD. He is very natural and his abusive tone makes his acting look more common like we do in real time. Kainaz has definitely done her homework well and she brings all her fear on her face brilliantly. However, the true hero of the movie is the background score by Faizan-Agnel. He has tried not to use any of the shrieks or scream and still manage to penetrate fear deep inside your mind. Some scenes look more scary even when the ghost is not on the screen merely because of the awesome background score that plays on your mind. Oh yes, if you are only buying tickets to watch some steamy scenes on the big screen then don't waste your money because there is not much of such content. Cinematography by Tribhuvan Babu is brilliant on the other side and captures every angle of the cottage to keep your eyes moving all the time so that you can spot the ghost from every possible angle. Although, the initial scenes and climax have handheld camera effect, but a major portion of the movie is shot through fixed camera. Screenplay by Pawan Kripalani and Vaspar Dandiwala is decent enough to keep you hook to your seat. However, it is the story that does not work well, the initial few scenes when the enter the house are spooky, but somewhere down the line the story sort of dies out for few minutes but ends on a good note once again.

Like I said earlier that Ragini MMS does not have any original plot, but it has been very well shot and Indian-ized. Yes, we know its copied and people keep saying that all the time, but even movies like The Ring, The Grudge, Shutter and Dark Water were not originally made by Hollywood, they are remakes of Japanese and Korean horror movies if you remember. We never point finger then because they are well shot than Japanese versions, same goes with Ragini MMS this time. If you watch The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity you will find that they are not as scary as Ragini MMS because the sound factor is missing. If you don't believe me, try watching The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Ragini MMS altogether and then decide which one gave you more goosebumps.