1920: HORRORS OF THE HEART is the story of a woman avenging her father's death. Meghna (Avika Gor) lives in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) with her father Dheeraj (Randheer Rai). Her mother Radhika (Barkha Bisht) Thakur left Dheeraj when Meghna was young. Radhika is in love with Arjun (Danish Pandor) and is planning to marry him. A day before her birthday, Dheeraj dies by suicide. Meghna is devastated. A day after his demise, she finds a book written by him. It mentions that Radhika despised Dheeraj as he was poor. It further states that she started sleeping with Britishers for money as she wanted to be rich. One day, she poisons Dheeraj. Dheeraj survives but it causes irreparable damage to his body. Radhika leaves Dheeraj and Meghna behind. She marries the very rich Shantanu Thakur (Rahul Dev) and settles with him in his mansion at Kosha Hills. Meghna is enraged and wants to take revenge from her mother. This is when Dheeraj's spirit emerges. He tells Meghna that he'll help her in exacting revenge. Meghna heads to Kosha Hills and meets Shantanu. Radhika feels ashamed to meet Meghna and refuses to see her. But Shantanu and Radhika's daughter Aditi (Ketaki Kulkarni) develops a fondness for Meghna. Meanwhile, Dheeraj instructs Meghna to target Aditi to avenge his death and humiliation. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Mahesh Bhatt and Suhrita Das' story is novel and different from the rest of the horror films of Bollywood. Instead of the heroine getting possessed, here it's she who causes the madness and has shades of grey. Mahesh Bhatt and Suhrita Das' screenplay sadly doesn't do justice to the plot. Shweta Bothra's dialogues are too filmy.
Krishna Bhatt's direction is not up to the mark. She handles a few scenes with panache. But otherwise, her execution is outdated. It doesn't seem to be a film of 2023 and seems like this is a film made 2 decades ago. Moreover, things happen at convenience. Radhika could have told Meghna the truth at the very start, but the makers unconvincingly depict that both never got an opportunity to talk. An old, loyal butler gets killed and yet, no one in the family even cares or wonders where he has disappeared. The most shocking aspect is the character of the gardener who seems to know it all. One expects him to contribute in the finale. Shockingly, he is nowhere to be seen when he is needed the most.
Speaking of the performances, Avika Gor has a lovely screen presence and handles the lead role well. Barkha Bisht, too, puts up a fine act. Rahul Dev is lovely. Ketaki Kulkarni is the surprise of the film. Danish Pandor is okay. Randheer Rai and Amit Behl (tantric) are over the top. Avtar Gill (Chowdhury; butler) is fine. Arbendra Pratap (Gardener) hams and how.
Puneet Dixit's music is intended to be soulful but doesn’t have the desired impact. 'Lori' is the best of the lot while 'Woh Kahani', 'Aye Zindagi' and 'Zaroori Hai' fail to register. The background score is horrifying.
Prakash Kutty's cinematography is neat. Naushad Memon's production design is theatrical. Mosses Fernandez' action works as it’s not too gory. Shriyanka Sharma's costumes are not in sync with the era depicted. VFX is very poor. Also, the manner in which the flashback scenes are presented seems straight out of a poorly edited amateur video. Kuldeep Mehan's editing could have been sharper.
On the whole, 1920: HORRORS OF THE HEART boasts of a great story but fails to impress due to outdated execution and far too many loose ends.
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