Bad actors, shaky camera, dull witch

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There are some people who take almost nothing to annoy you and Swini Khara’s character in Kaalo is quite like that. It takes a lot of patience to review a film and I formed my opinion on the supposedly horror flick Kaalo in the first 10 minutes.
Swini Khara was annoying in Cheeni Kum, so she is in Kaalo too. I know what you are thinking: Somethings never change. And I’m no “akdu uncle”, as she prefers to call Sameer (Aditya Shrivastav) throughout the film. Jesus Christ! Christmas is just a few days away: Why would you want to torture people?
But director Wilson Louis feels otherwise, and so does Sameer who wants to keep her alive no matter what! Quite a statement he made: “If anybody tried to hurt Sonu, I will kill him before Kaalo does.” Well, I do and so does Kaalo.
Ahe I was thinking: Naa rahegi Sonu, naa banegi film.
Interestingly, among all the fellow travellers, it’s only Panditji (Paintal) who understands that Kaalo is after Sonu. It was as if the desert witch had some telepathy with him. (Look, Pandit, I’m here to kill Sonu. But I will kill you too! What! You want to be seen little longer. Ah! No dude! Oh! OK! You don’t get too many films. Cool! I will kill you in the end). The point is, why can’t you keep pandits and maulvis and priests out of horror films. What use are they anyway, when their totems can’t save anybody?
Kaalo leaves you disappointed because of several things: The characters, except Sameer, can’t act and are camera conscious. The ladies look exceedingly fake, even when they are acting dumb. The camera shots are typical quick in and out shots, and keep the audience away from the subject. The only reprise comes from the sound effects, which does create some spookiness, but the visuals fail to. The visual effects, which the film promotion claimed to be a major attraction, are not up to the mark and look artificial.
Finally, the biggest disappointment is the desert witch Kaalo, who was supposed to be feared, but fails to evoke any such emotion.
If you are a big fan of creature-based horror films, Kaalo’s look is disappointing. It seems as if the makeup team were in a hurry and ended up making a really horrible witch.
Kaalo is horrifying, but sadly the horror comes from the lack of it.