Phobia- Ashdoc’s movie review

Radhika Apte is a young and talented painter who exhibits her paintings in art exhibitions. She is hot and sexy and likes to wear exposing clothes, especially because she has a good body to show off. But after an art exhibition she is a victim of attempted rape in a taxi. Because of this she develops psychological problems—specifically agoraphobia, which is an irrational fear of open spaces. So she remains locked up in her house all the time, fearing to go out. Her sister gets fed up of her fears and so Radhika’s boyfriend (Satyadeep Mishra) shifts Radhika out of her apartment to another house .

Here she gets acquainted with new neighbours and specifically a young girl (Yashaswini Dayama) and a man (Ankur Vikal). She and the girl quickly become friends but she is convinced that Ankur has murdered his girlfriend (Amrit Bagchi) in whose now empty apartment she has shifted in. This is because she has found the girlfriend’s diary and it’s notes convince her that she was killed.

But Radhika’s own problems are far from over and she begins to have visions of things happening in the house. From a cat straying around in the apartment to the ghost of the murdered girl, Radhika begins to see things. The friendly young girl is a nosy busybody and she begins to cooperate to search for these happenings. Radhika’s boyfriend however is exasperated by these efforts. The neighbouring man is a pesky type who increases Radhika’s suspicions of being a murderer by having anger management issues for which he resorts to laughter therapy.

So has the girlfriend really been murdered?
Are Radhika’s visions real?
Is her agoraphobia going to get cured?
Watch the movie for the answers.

The film rests on the acting of the main protagonists and they have all performed well. Otherwise it is a small budget film with neither any big stars nor any costly locations or sets. The director does manage to inject real suspense in the proceedings and the humorous situations that sometimes spring up from the proceedings do liven up the film for a while. There are few jolts in the film too but the film cannot be called a regular or typical horror film because you are left wondering whether the happenings on screen are imaginations of Radhika’s mental situation or are really happening. But that is what makes the film different too.

The film’s main lead is already in the limelight for bold scenes in films and giving exposing photos. Here Radhika however has no bold scenes and her body exposure is not that much. Rather this is a chance to show off her acting capabilities. I found her acting good enough but not as much the critics are gaga-ing. Music and photography is ok.

Verdict—decent

Three stars