13B - Fear Has A New Address (Hindi)

Edge-of-the-seat thriller

Producer: BIG Pictures
Writer, Director: Vikram K Kumar
Stars: Poonam Dhillon, R Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Sachin Khedekar

Creative Quotient:
National Award winner and Priyadarshan’s erstwhile assistant, Vikram K Kumar, makes a dashing debut with this slick supernatural flick. The story, simple yet engrossing, is about a picture-perfect, happy family comprising of two married brothers, their families, their mother and young sister shifting into their new apartment number 13 B in a high-rise. A series of inexplicable incidents mar their happiness. Milk curdles every day, the lift never works whenever younger brother Manohar (R.Madhavan) steps into it – he has to trudge up and down thirteen floors everyday, his picture on the mobile appears askew and he’s unable to fix the pictures of deities in the pooja room. Adding to the chaos is a tele-serial that bears an uncanny resemblance to their life - it is predictive of turn of events.

Can the family doctor (Sachin Khedekar) solve the mystery and put them out of misery is what the film is about. The only objectionable part of the film is the gory violence in the denouement of the plot. The bloody bludgeoning in the climax could have been replaced by sophisticated murder, perhaps?

The writer’s logic that if spirits can possess a complex machine like the human body why can’t they haunt simpler machines like the television and mobilephone, presents mind-boggling prospects. Thumbs up for that!

Technical Expertise:
Right from the word “go” the director gets you by your throat with his racy, zingy narrative. He employs innovative camera angles, zany characters and eerie SFX to keep up the tempo. Barring the romantic number shot on the newlyweds Madhavan and Neetu Chandra, there is not a moment when he losses his grip. To the credit of the director, he sets the whole story in a happy family set-up where the bahus and saas huddle up together enthusiastically to catch up on their favourite soaps on the telly.

Of the players, the film revolves mostly around R Madhavan and he enacts his complex role with a becoming grace. From the loveable husband and a young man to the man devastated after his wife’s miscarriage to the completely distraught man being haunted by spirits - he’s totally in command in the film.

Sachin Khedekar is rediscovered in the film. Neetu Chandra and Poonam Dhillon are natural in their parts, as are the rest of the actors. The director is adept at his métier, no doubt!

Director of photography P C Sreeram provides the nervous energy to the film and sets his frames crackling with energy. A slick thriller that will set you thinking...

Verdict
Of the three stars - one big shining star is certainly for R Madhavan, another to the dashing director Vikram K Kumar and the third for the exciting cinematography.

Reviews from http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/13B-925103920.html:
For starters dont confuse the movie as a horror film.Its a thriller.The story is a bit different from the regular fare of masala movies.