Director Santosh Sivan's Click is a remake of the Thai film Shutter (directed by Masayuki Ochiai), which was subsequently made into English (as Shutter), and Tamil and Telugu as well. But I tried to watch the Hindi version as an audience who hasn't seen any of the earlier versions. Let's take a look.
Shreyas Talpade is Avi, a hotshot fashion photographer who is dating model Sonia (Sada). All is well in their lives, until they hit a girl on their way back from a wild party. The two decide to drive away instead of helping the victim, and soon forget about it. Until something strange reminds them of their doing – a ghostly figure starts appearing in all of Avi's pictures.
Filled with guilt, Sonia is sure that the accident victim is dead and her spirit is troubling them. But Avi does not believe it until the ghost haunts him everywhere.
Meanwhile, three of Avi's friends are killed in succession and in similar fashion. That is when Sonia takes it upon herself to get to the heart of the matter. And that is when the story picks up.
Click in the first half manages to scare you and arouse curiosity. But it starts dragging a bit. It's only later that you're engrossed, when the 'ghost' Aarti Kaushik's (Sneha Ullal) back story begins. The film's end is also not conventional.
What's good is that Click is not predictable if you haven't seen Shutter.
Cinematography by T Ramji is not spectacular but one does notice some good shots. The spooky ones, though, are very conventional and 'been there, done that'.
But thankfully Click is two hours long, and does not use extreme horror treatment like The Exorcist and its kind. The film manages to scare with sound effects and shock value at crucial points. It often reminds you of Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot, which was excellent in comparison.
Shreyas Talpade and Sada both perform well, without whom the film would be totally drab. Sneha Ullal has just one line, but has an impact through her silence. However, she could do with cutting a bit of her flab, if she wants to get back to Bollywood big time.
Chunky Pandey as the weirdo writer Manu Sharma is amusing. Avtar Gill, who made an appearance in all Mahesh Bhatt films, makes a comeback of sorts after Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge, in a bit part as photo studio owner. He has not lost touch. Rehan Khan plays Avi's friend Tarun well.
Riya Sen is not even noticed in her heavily edited 'item number'. The ghost has more screen time than her!
Shamir Tandon's music is strictly OK, except the title song. Sandeep Chowta's background score is average, but complements the 'ghost moments' well.
Click takes a lot from Shutter, but if you haven't seen the original, it's not a bad watch. But one does feel that some well made TV shows like Aahat or Zee Horror Show managed to involve viewers more than Click.
Verdict: If you haven't seen the original, Click will scare you. And, more importantly, it's better than the other two films this week. That should work in its favour.
Rating: 2/5
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