Flat, on its face

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When the makers named their film A Flat, perhaps they wanted to let out a subtle hint about the content. But sadly, one realises that only after having endured 120 minutes of utter confusion in the name of horror. The film, which was kept on hold for long, was in the news for a while for being the launchpad of Bappa Lahiri, the son of the legendary disco musician Bappi Lahiri. But perhaps the title is a comment on his music, too!

The problem with the film’s plot is that they took a simple story and twisted it way too much, till it made no sense. Like all horror movies, especially the Hindi ones, this too follows the age-old premise of “revenge” to thicken the plot. Jimmy Shergill (Rahul) returns from the US to sort out things fine between him and his girlfriend, with whom he had a spat before he left the country. But even before he gets a chance to meet her, strange things start happening. His father dies an unnatural death in Jimmy’s empty flat and then his girlfriend Preeti goes missing.
Obviously, the universe conspires for him to be alone in his own flat with a ghost for company who helps him know the truth about his best friend Karan (Sanjay Suri). But by this time you have made your way into the second half, which makes the first half seem like an entirely different film.
Even though the story is simplistic, some tight editing could have salvaged the film from falling “flat” on its face. It does have an interesting cast with Jimmy and Sanjay doing their usual impressive act. Sachin Khedekar is fine as the lecherous father and newcomer Hazel is earnest. There are also a couple of scenes that are interestingly shot and manage to scare, but the loopholes are far too many to digest and towards the end one doesn’t really know which genre it belongs to. Now, is there something called “horror-fusion”?