Calling Bell Review

Think of a devil whose raging desire is to beget a child.  Think of such a devil conning the man in her life into sleeping with her without having the knowledge of his partner’s spooky identity.  That is ‘Calling Bell’ for you.  Inappropriately titled, this horror flick plays to the gallery without attempting to play to the gallery.  This makes the concept a potential hit with the audience but where the director fails to make the grade, is in executing the things with a tight screenplay.

Harsha, Riya, Amar, Vishal and Tulasi are college buddies and they want to go on a vacation.  One of the friends suggests that they holiday in a bungalow where his brother had stayed with his wife a few months ago.  He promises his friends to steal the keys of the bungalow without his brother’s knowledge (this is a loose end because there is no reason why he shouldn’t ask his bro for the keys; he doesn't know the bungalow's history which his bro alone knows).   The narration now flips into recent past when Karthik (Ravi Varma) and Vaishali (Mamata Rawat), a newly married couple, were staying at the bungalow.  Moments after a romantic duet involving the couple, a vagabond sadhu spots Karthik on road, only to forebode something life-threatening already happening to him.  He predicts that he will be killed by his dead wife, now possessed and brought to life by a pisachi.

It is up to Karthik to save himself from the pisachi.  When things fall in place and Karthik vacates the place, his brother and friends enter the haunted place, only to invite an existential threat upon themselves.

After establishing that the pisachi’s unfulfilled desires will make her to re-emerge, the film creates some interest in how she comes back and chooses a couple.  However, there comes a point when the film drags on and on as force-fit comedy scenes (involving Venu, Shakalaka Shankar and Ali’s brother, and Jeeva) spoil the show.  It makes no sense to kill a comedian after trying level best to make us laugh.

A serious flaw pertains to the way the friends’ fear and emotions are portrayed.  Would a girl behave normally even after clearly hearing the devil’s call?  What kind of a person moves out of the bungalow and into the garden holding a torch light after hearing such a call?  And that too, saying this – Evaru?  Evaru?  One girl even completely forgets about the call and doesn’t even inform her friends about the weird happenings in her room while watching TV.  All this despite living in a lonely bungalow with suspicious surroundings.

In yet another scene, the possessed girl walks into the dining room and eats like mad.  Not one among the four friends thinks differently from the others.  They are curiously into business-as-usual mode after that, with one friend even saying, “Baga akaliga unnatundi le ra..”  Seriously?

One girl goes into the possessed girl’s room, experiences the devil trying to strangle her, comes out and wears this expression: She behaves as if she is just confused whether it is really ladies’ toilet after spotting a gent in it.

Surely, had the performances and the dialogue been apt, the film would have made a huge impact.  Dialogue are jaded.  Characters keep on repeating a line or two in the scenes.  At times, they behave like they have a patient in ICU and don’t know what to do.

Jeeva’s role was botched-up.  A good  alibi to have his character would have helped.

Some of the ideas really work, especially the concept of a devil obsessed about delivering a child and going to any extent for that -  even killing.  The item song before the friends’ arrival at the bungalow, where the item girl is seen inviting men to have a coital encounter with her, is a good idea.  The song involving Harsha and Riya, as they indulge in sex, is another good idea, well shot as well.

Vrithi Khanna is authentic in the role of a spooky, possessed girl.  One wishes, the others matched her up in performance.

Technically, the cinematography doesn’t add richness to the proceedings.  Even the BGM is not up to the mark.

Verdict: A good concept that could have made it big had the execution been intelligent.

తెలుగు రివ్యూ కోసం ఇక్కడ క్లిక్ చేయండి