If you have a pit in your stomach, if your intestines feel squeezed, if the hair at the back of your neck is raised, it is a good horror film, isn’t it? Yeah, in that sense then, Shaitaan is a good horror film. But at the risk of repeating myself, the genre itself is not appealing to me. Why would anyone want to put themselves through that physical experience is beyond me. Why do I watch it then? In the hope that I might like ‘this’ film despite my aversion to its genre.

And when the parents did the opposite of what I would do, I understood, I ‘got’ it. So, in that sense, the film is well-made.

Actually, the film does more than horrify me. It made me relate to the characters, especially the parents played by Jyotika and Ajay Devgn. More than once, I found myself thinking, “I would never leave my daughter.” Or “What would I do if this happened to my son?” And when the parents did the opposite of what I would do, I understood, I ‘got’ it. So, in that sense, the film is well-made.

Of course, an absolutely stunning performance by Janki Bodiwala. And while this must be a sleep-walk for Ajay Devgn and R Madhavan, Jyotika’s one-tone expression is as boring as it is understandable. Devgn does the fun, caring, worried father to the Tee. And Madhavan portrays the devil his character is meant to be. Jyotika holds the bewildered expression constant and well. And can I really blame her for that? There is enough cause for her to not know what else to do! So, in that sense too, the film is well-made.

And that too without too many of the usual horror tropes such as jump scares or the protagonists tripping on a solution. In fact, it swings a bit to the opposite side. The villain spares you the most horrific thing you can think of. And yet, manages to terrify you with what he is capable of.

But, then maybe because of the resolve to avoid all things typical to the genre, the film becomes a tad too simple. It doesn’t help that the pace slackens in the second half. After the initial set-up, except for one sequence, nothing new really happens for about a good hour of the film. Unless, the terror building up and the characters being more and more traumatised is considered new.

Yep, certainly I would have been more shaken up if the movie were crisper. Also, the climax is too verbose. More so because it is out of sync with the way the dialogue is treated in the rest of the film. Until the very end, the lines are minimalistic and normal, even boring at some points. But the climax goes heavy and all parent-this-parent-that, mother-this-mother-that, father-this-father that on us. And because it is against the grain of the film, it feels like it was an afterthought, a Hindi-film-entertainment need.

Hence it significantly reduces the impact created thus far. Coming to think of it, the impact begins from the first frame of the film and the opening credits. The latter is one of the classiest sequences I remember from the recent past. And when the intermission came, my contracted muscles and organs welcomed the release. But, as it so happens, it withers. Good for me, not-so-good for the film.

– meeta, a part of the audience