Gaslight, More Gas Less Light

Gaslight, More Gas Less Light

Gaslight(Disney+Hotstar)

Rating: * ½

Gaslight desperately needs  a torchlight.  A majority of  the sequences are shot in the night, as most films in the horror-thriller  genre  are wont to. The  night scenes are  shot in such poor light that  most of them had me guessing about the  goings-on.Did I miss something? I guess I will  never  know.

Gaslight  is  an unintended comedy. It attempts to  scare you  by  cruising along with the wheelchair-bound listless  heroine Meesha whom everyone calls “Rajamumariji”(probably in the hope  of a mention in the  will)  in the (ill-lit) haveli where she  returns  after  a long hiatus  to find her dear daddy missing.

Stepmom Rukmani(Chitrangda Singh, completely  ineffective) ,is  an obvious  suspect.  But the  director Pavan Kirpalani takes  his own sweet time to  unravel the mystery…or shall we say,  the  miss-story .

Slowburn  is  not  the  chosen  mood. It is  more like   slowburn-out. The  film’s amateurish storytelling with the  Big Bang  climax visible to us from miles away, is tortuous  in mood and  taxing in its  lethargic  storytelling.

The  acting which  covers  a  wide spectrum from bored(Sara Ali Khan, Chitrangda) to overzealous(Akshay Oberoi as a spoilt over-privileged brat , and  a blind fortune teller played by  Manjiri Pupula who gives  hamming an  all new dimension  and  definition).Only  Vikrant Massey, by now a master at making his place in Shero films,   can be seen making some effort to make sense  of his  role as a faithful servant in a palace  filled with inane  intrigue, and  more darkly-lit corridors than medieval dungeons.

Unlike other poor horror  thrillers in recent times, Gaslight doesn’t have a single jumpscare moment. This  brings me to the  other question that scares me far beyond anything in the film. And the  question goes to  whoever sanctioned this film on behalf of Disney+hotstar: what did you see in this one?