Rog   Producer: Pooja Bhatt, Sujit Kumar Singh Director: Himanshu Brambhatt Starring: Irfan Khan, Ilene Hamman, Himanshu Malik Music: M. M. Kreem, Gaudi, Music Mushrooms Lyrics: Neelesh Mishra, Sayeed Quadri, Gaudi Genre: Suspense Recommended Audience: General Approximate Running Time: 2 hrs Film Released on: 07 January 2005 Reviewed by: Shruti Bhasin  - Rating: 6.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

I rented the DVD with absolutely no expectations. I had not listened to the soundtrack, nor did I care about the film’s storyline. But as I began watching, I was consumed that this movie could turn out to be a decent thriller.

Our story begins with a famous model, Maya Soloman (Ilene Hamman), who gets murdered, point-blank by a gun. Next, we have Uday Singh Rathod (Irfan Khan), who is instructed that no matter what, he must arrest someone for the murder (is it me, or are most cops called Rathod in recent films - Ajay Devgan is also Rathod in Insan). Ok so who cares, right? Well, its just that we have seen cops trying to catch a murderer routine before, but I have never seen someone fall in love with a dead woman. Yes, Rathod falls for the dead Maya after interviewing the people close to her and reading a confidential diary of her thoughts and desires.

Rathod suffers from insomnia. He becomes so consumed by Maya that every time he closes his eyes, he sees her. He desperately looks at Maya’s picture, in her home, and drinking away. Until one night, the door opens, and the story takes a surprising turn.

INTERVAL

Everything is good up to this point, but the second half is a let down.

Irfan is always dependable, I have yet to see him do bad acting. Ilene’s debut is a good lauch pad with the Bhatt’s, however will we ever see her again in films? (Whatever happened to that girl from Paap?) Well, this actress made a decent debut, but she was more like an eye-candy illusion for a stressed out cop. Well, either way, the movie is average.

The supporting cast consists of Himanshu Malik (playing Maya’s fiance, Ali), Suhel Seth (playing Maya’s friend and a journalist), and finally Shyamoli Verma (playing Maya’s relative). The screenplay quickly moves to establish one of these characters as the murderer, unfortunately, the climax is so abrupt, the audience can predict who the killer is.

The movie is lifted by the music (set more in the background) and gels well with the theme. “Khoobsurat” stands out as one of the best songs of 2005.

Direction by Himanshu Brambhatt is also average, but he extracts good performances from the lead. The movie is written by Mahesh Bhatt and should’ve been re-worked to make more sense in the end.

Overall, it’s an average 2 hour flick that you can rent for time-pass. Enjoy!