Director: Pawan Kriplani
Cast:- Radhika Apte
Ratings: 3 Stars
“Phobia” juggles with familiar elements of the genre – fear, shock, surprise, mystery – with a steady sense of thematic purpose. If we talk in the language of the film’s title ‘phobia’, the whole experience is spooky where you become phobic to watching one another scene because you are frightened, but at the same time you are so philic to the screen, you hardly want move your eye ball. Pavan Kirpalani’s third directorial venture (after Ragini MMS and Darr @ the Mall) is spine-chilling enough not to call too much attention to its inherent whimsicalities and the attendant slip-ups. Breaking the commonness, this film brings back our lost interest and faith in this genre.
In movie, Radhika Apte as Mahek develops such a love for the four walls of her home after an sexual assault by a taxi driver. Her friend and admirer Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) persuades her to move into a furnished apartment where a young woman named Jiah had once lived before disappearing. Shaan feels that it would be therapeutic for the deeply disturbed Mahek to live on her own in a new place, but he hasn’t accounted for the creepy neighbour Manu (Ankur Vikal), the excess of reflective surfaces, and the strange noises that emanate from the drainpipe.
The apartment also has a bathtub – a sign of truly horrific luxury in our drought-ridden times. A diary belonging to Jiah further stokes Mahek’s imagination, and it’s only a matter of time before she is convinced that a malevolent spirit is sharing her space. Tormented and yet too terrified to leave the house, Mahek persuades her bright-eyed neighbour Nikki (Yashaswini Dayama) to help her snoop around the place. Meanwhile, poor Shaan, in the time-honoured tradition of horror movie boyfriends who wished they were in a romantic drama instead, reins in his desire for Mahek and tries to help her regain her sanity.
Whatever flaws there are in the film – and there are many for sure – are offset by a riveting performance by Radhika Apte as a successful painter who has more than just the ravages of a psychological disorder to contend with. Phobia is a taut and evocatively filmed psychological thriller about a woman whose mind plays terrible tricks on her, but it is equally about the hostile, predatory world that she is a part of and feels threatened by.
Director Pavan Kripalani also finds unexpected humour in Mahek’s occasionally overblown reaction to her new surroundings. But the movie’s gender politics are not mined deeply enough, and Shaan’s predicament over Mahek lacks that one extra layer of sexual tension that would made Phobia a worthy successor to Repulsion. Phobia is a genuinely scary film. This despite the fact that it is neither about malevolent ghosts out for vengeance nor about the destructive undead on a rampage.
Watching Radhika on the screen as emotions flash across her visage is an unalloyed delight. For the most part, the film is hers alone, and the camera revels in capturing the character’s innermost feelings on her malleable face and expressive eyes. Radhika Apte has been steadily building up an impressive portfolio of performances, and she is in top form in Phobia. Radhika is backed up by Satyadeep Mishra and Yashaswini Dayama, whose performances are unlikely to go unnoticed. Watch this film for the many surprises it springs and, of course, for Radhika Apte in full flow. ’Phobia’is a psychological thriller. Produced by Viki Rajani. With films giving more comedy in the horror/thriller genre, phobia clears those blemishes away.
Watch Trailer of “Phobia”:-
