Kuasha Jokhon review: Absurd theme and lengthy storyline ruin this horror film

Abhishek and Meenakshi’s film Kuasha Jokhon deals with an absurd and outdated theme with an extremely lengthy storyline. The film doesn’t scare with its supposedly horror sequences. At times, the film seems to be about cursed love stories that are shown in flashbacks. Further, the supernatural links to the accounts are illogical and funny.

Amitabha (Anindya Pulak Banerjee) renovates a haunted mansion of a zamindar and turns it into a hotel. Soon, the staff members and the guests at the hotel face scary paranormal experiences and Amitabha’s business begins to go through a crisis. Amitabha spots Alex (Rishav Basu), an occult specialist, on the internet and despite protestations from his partner, Mr Mehra, he contacts Alex and draws his interest by asking him a question on rebirth.

Alex agrees to help Amitabha in unearthing the mystery of the mansion. As soon as he reaches there, he feels he is being observed and also senses an uncanny familiarity. He begins his deep meditations and some rituals, which neither have scientific ground not present realistic depiction of witchcraft or any such practice.

The history of the mansion - the unfortunate past events of the family headed by zamindar Rajshekhar (Shataf Figar) - is thus revealed to him and the rest of the film shows how he saves the mansion from the unsatisfied souls.

Honestly, Alex does nothing except lighting a circular fire and exercise to build a muscular body. A character, who is later revealed to be the reincarnation of one of the past inhabitants of the mansion, frequently appears before Alex, but he does not really express any surprise or curiosity about her existence before the history of the mansion is revealed to him.

Amitabha’s wife gets possessed by the spirits of the mansion, neither she, nor Alex, who saves her, make any enquiry about the incident. The horror sequences appear to be forcibly incorporated in the film in order to establish a superficial relationship to paranormal elements.

Kuasha Jakhon trailer: Paranormal romance with mystery mansion and unsatisfied souls

A few sequences of Mrinali (Manali Dey) and her lover from the flashback in the first half are bearable, while the second half seems to drag forever. The romantic unfolding between Surjashekhar (Rishav Basu) and Rajeswari (Gargee Roy Chowdhury) make up the rare genuine moments in the film.

The biggest let down of the film is the ridiculous climax. It confuses the directors’ intention behind making the film. If the directors wanted to present their theories on occult studies, then the film is a complete failure as its content is far more regressive than Bengali mega-serials and bears no relevance to the contemporary research on paranormal or supernatural activities.

The film also does not explore the realm outside the mortal world without enough fantastic elements as its main focus remains chronicling the doomed incidents from the previous generation of the zamindar family.

Rishav Basu is stiff and inexpressive as Alex to such an extent it is tiring to watch him in the first half. The contrast between the performances of the high pitched Anindya Pulak Banerjee and the expressionless Rishav is not at all an experience worth the time.

However, Rishav seems to be quite the opposite as the artistic and romantic Surjashekhar in the second half. He surprisingly perfects a few moments with Gargee Roy Chowdhury and brings the passion alive.

Chowdhury delivers a natural performance as the helpless wife of Rajshekhar, who is madly in love with the person she is not supposed to feel for. Manali Dey leaves impact in her brief yet poignant performance.

Shataf Figar’s portrayal of Rajshekhar is another aspect that makes it difficult to watch the film. He performs with weird mannerisms to magnify his evil attributes and his dialogue delivery lacks any modulation.

Abhijit Mallick’s dialogues in the film, especially the ones of Rajshekhar are clichéd and lack creativity. The songs 'Sajan Ayo' composed and sung by Chirantan Banerjee and 'Mon' by Rupankar Bagchi are so good that they seem out of the context of the film.

There is no doubt that both the directors fail miserably in their desired project. If they had attempted to make a romantic film with a simple storyline and dramatic twists, perhaps, they could have achieved a better success.