1921 Review: A standard horror flick with some intense scares and soulful music!

Positive Points: Performances, Direction, Music, Cinematography, Background Score

Negative Points: Story, Editing, Second Half

1921 Plot:

Impressed by a musical performance of one of his staffs’ son, Ayush (Karan Kundra) on piano, hotelier Mr Wadia (Vikram Bhatt) decides to send him to London to learn music. However, the big-hearted man has a condition - that Ayush will have to stay at his sprawling Wadia Maron in York, London, and take care of the place. Ayush agrees and reaches York and enrolls himself in the York College of Music. Within a month of his stay in the palatial maron of Wadias, he starts experiencing some peculiar occurrences in the house. When things go beyond his ken, he gets in touch with Rose (Zareen Khan) for help. Rose can see and talk to spirits. With her special power, which she has inherited from her deceased mother, she has helped many families. She agrees to help Ayush as well, but as soon as she reaches the maron, she realizes it is the most powerful spirit she has ever encountered. Will she help Ayush despite knowing it may wreak harm on her? Is Ayush keeping some secrets that he doesn't intend to reveal to Rose? Who is the spirit and what all it wants? To know, watch the film.

1921 Performance Review:

1921 predominantly revolves around the characters of Zareen Khan and Karan Kundra. Both actors put their best foot forward while playing Rose and Ayush respectively. Zareen, who was last seen in Aksar 2, shows a different aspect of her talent. She looks pretty good in the film. With her intense yet restraint act, she successfully leaves a mark. The actress gets a good role to play and pulls it off with utmost honesty. Karan Kundra, on the other hand, is also good. He tries his best to deliver a convincing performance and succeeds in doing so, except for a few scenes here and there. He looks good on the screen and suits the role he plays. The chemistry between both the actors is good.

1921 Direction Review:

When you think of a Hindi filmmakers who has mastered the art of making horror films, it is highly impossible that Vikram Bhatt’s name does not cross your mind. If there is any filmmaker who has at least tried to do justice to the genre, it has to be Bhatt. With 1921, he returns to his favourite genre and tries to scare us. Fortunately, his experience, which spans across decades, helps the director to weave a story that is exciting and full of suspense and thrill. He builds characters you can fall in love with almost instantly. You will enjoy the film, ignoring its flaws here and there. Dialogues of the movie are good and so is screenplay. However, 1921 is nothing like Vikram Bhatt’s remarkable films of the past, especially in horror space. Despite being an entertaining film, 1921 has a forgettable story that will not find a place in the league of films like Raaz, Haunted and 1920. In the second half, the film goes haywire many times, but Vikram saves it every time it seems to lose its steam.

1921 Technical Aspect Review:

The film has been shot across an array of picturesque locations and is visually appealing. Cinematography of the film is excellent. The movie has a bit of a slow pace, so editing could have certainly been better. The second half is poorly edited and hence pretty long. VFX at some places needed to be more refined. Horror films have to have amazing background score and, thankfully, 1921 doesn't disappoint in that department at all. The background music of the film makes your skin crawl more often than not.

1921 Music Review:

Take a look at some highly successful horror films of Bollywood and you will realize that most of them had good music. Why go far? You can recollect Vikram Bhatt’s previous films in the genre. Be it Raaz, Raaz 3, Haunted, 1920 or 1920: Evil Returns, all of them boasted of soulful music. For 1921, Vikram has entrusted the responsibility of creating music to newcomer Harish Sagane. Lyrics have been provided by Shakeel Azmi. Out of all the songs in the soundtrack, ‘Kuch Iss Tarah’ and ‘Sunn Le Zara’ succeed in catching your attention.

1921 Final Verdict:

If you have not watched many horror films, 1921 can offer a thrilling experience. But for those who love the genre crazily and have been gorging on horror films since time immemorial, the film does not offer anything novel and suspenseful.