‘Phobia’ Movie Review: Gripping and interesting

Directed by: Pavan Kirpalani
Produced by: Viki Rajani
Cast: Radhika Apte
Duration: 1 hours 53 minute
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3/5

We have seen many psychological thrillers in Bollywood and most of them showcased schizophrenia. However, for the first time in Bollywood, a movie on phobia titled as ‘Phobia’ has been made. Directed by Pavan Kirpalani, the movie stars Radhika Apte and hits the screens tomorrow.

‘Phobia’ tells the story of Mehek (Radhika Apte) who is a successful artist. One night she gets assaulted by a taxi driver due to which she develops severe agoraphobia– the fear of open spaces. Mehek’s friend Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) and her sister Anu (Nivedita Bhattacharya) decide to shift Mehek to a new house, so that the change in ambience will help her to get out of agoraphobia. While staying in the house, Mehek starts experiencing paranormal things. Will Mehek be able come out of agoraphobia? What’s the secret behind these paranormal things happening with her in the new house? Watch the film to get the answers of these questions.

Well, first of all let us tell you that this is surely a never-seen-before story in Bollywood. As we have stated earlier, for the first time a filmmaker has tried to make a movie based on a phobia. The film has an interesting concept and the writers have successfully written the screenplay that keeps us hooked throughout the film. However, what doesn’t really impress us is that there are very few spine-chilling moments. The movie starts on a very basic pace and till the pre-interval portions there are hardly any edge-of-the seat sequences. However, before 10-15 mins of interval, the film becomes damn gripping and is so scary that you will start feeling the ‘reverse agoraphobia’ (we mean to say that you feel like going in an open space instead of sitting in the theatre). In the second half, the film is gripping, but then once again the chills are missing. The trailer was scarier than the movie.

Pavan’s narration is good and he gets something on the big screen that we never expected from him after watching ‘Darr @ The Mall’. His helming style is quite good and while watching the film you come to know that his target audience is classes.

This film would have been nothing without the mind-blowing performance of Radhika Apte. The actress is simply terrific and her excellent performance is the highlight of the movie. Satyadeep Mishra is good in his role. Nivedita Bhattacharya hardly gets any scope in the film. Yashaswini Dayama is fantastic as Niki. Ankur Vikal is strictly okay.

There is no scope for music in the movie; however the background score is just perfect.

Pavan Kirpalani’s ‘Phobia’ is gripping and interesting, but the chills are missing.

Watch trailer