Movie Review: Khamosh - Khauff Ki Raat

Producer: Rahul Aggarwal, Deepak Tijori
Director: Deepak Tijori
Cast: Shilpa Shetty, Juhi Chawla, Rajeev Singh, Shahwar Ali, Rajat Bedi, Kainaaz, Vrajesh Hirjee and Rakhi Sawant
Music: Jatin-Lalit

Before we begin, Khamoshh - Khauff Ki Raat is not a horror film nor is it the 2005 version of Gumnaam. Deepak Tijori has been inspired by psychological thriller Identity (2003; John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet).

A stormy night forces several commuters on the highway to take shelter in a motel. Among them is a family, a newly married couple, a prostitute, a starlet, her manager, a cop and a convict. They all plan to spend the night in this motel, knowing not that many are about to die on this ominous night.

The Indian actress Kashmira (Rakhi Sawant) is driving to a shooting location with her secretary (Avinash). Sonia (Shilpa Shetty) is also on the same route. She’s a bar dancer and high society escort girl whose suddenly made a killing in bar and picked up enough money to try and pick up pieces of her life.

A recently married man (Vishwajeet Pradhan) is travelling with his wife and step-child. After some problems, he stops his car and the steps outside with his wife. Avinash drives past and accidentally bumps into the woman, grievously wounding her.

Avinash tries to take the woman to the hospital, and leaves her at a motel before he tries to go to the hospital to pick up a doctor (dunno why he doesn’t take her to the hospital directly). He meets Sonia on the way and his car breaks down too. Then he meets Varun (Rajat Bedi) and his wife Mehek (Kainaaz) and takes a lift back to the motel.

All of them stay at the motel which is managed by the sleazy Adi (Hrajesh Virjee) who keeps saying ‘this is India’ a hundred times over. A cop (Shahwar Ali) brings along a killer (Kelly Dorjee) to the motel as well. Suddenly members from this group of strangers are killed one by one… who is responsible?

The story of the movie switches from flashbacks to the present time. Juhi Chawla plays an important role in this movie (no she is not the killer ).

Shilpa Shetty does a decent job, although there’s not much scope for any actor to display histrionics. Newcomer Rajeev Singh has screen presence and as an actor, doesn’t disappoint. If given the right roles, has tremendous potential! Shawar Ali is like wooden furniture and doesn’t impress. Kainaaz and Rajat Bedi are effective enough. Vrajesh Hirjee is extremely efficient. Kelly Dorjee gets hyper. Vishwajeet Pradhan is alright. Rakhi Sawant (voice dubbed) is passable in a brief role. Makrand Deshpande goes over the top. Juhi Chawla delivers a sincere performance.

The Censors have heavily chopped of the film. You don’t fail to notice the scissors at several places.
1. A bedroom scene between the married couple which gets too dirty for Indian mentality has been shown the door by moral watchdogs.
2. Rakhi Sawant’s much talked about scene where she appears in transparent panty has been scissored.

In what could be baffling for an Indian viewer in true Hollywood fashion two stories run parallel to each other. The premise of Deepak Tijori’s murder mystery Khamosh is quite interesting, but the movie fails to impress.

Why? Well, Deepak Tijori isn’t James Mangold and though he has dared to copy Identity he has not been able to glue the story together. Identity was a complex movie even for Hollywood. Split personality disorder in killer would be too harsh for Indian audience to digest. The climax shocked and confused one and all. Films like 6th Sense and Identity require a tout narration and capable director at helm.

The culprit, well screenplay and director along with some sloppy acting from some actors can be blamed for an unpleasant experience call Khamosh.

Khamoshh is based on 2003 Thriller Identity. Check out the sopiler where the suspense behind the murders in the movie is revealed.