| Powered by: Chakpak.com | Karma |
Director: M R Shahjahan
Cast: Alma Saraci, Carlucci Weyant, Vijayendra Ghatge, Claudia Ciesla
Karma commits the cinematic crime of reincarnating an ancient Bollywood formula sans any passion or innovation. The punar-janam plot has been witnessed enough and more times on the Indian screen from Madhumati to Om Shanti Om but this one lacks any novel interpretation and is rather a direct spin-off from Chetan Anand’s 1981 film Kudrat (Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, Raaj Kumar). On the insistence of his newly-married bride Anna (Alma Saraci), Vik (Carlucci Weyant) flies down to Ooty from New York to visit his alienated father Ranvir (Vijayendra Ghatge). Anna experiences strange visions in the new surroundings and soon it turns out to be a case of rebirth. Anna was Linda (Claudia Ciesla) in her past life who lived in the same vicinity and was killed, post the predictable rape attempt. Linda haunts her to trace the culprit and Anna is determined to solve the mystery.Not only is the reincarnation plot passé, the film also resorts to regular tricks of the trade in inciting horror. The standard setting of a couple coming to spend time in their ancestral royal mansion dates back to Ramsay’s ‘ dak-bangla ’ genre horror. The husband’s customary disbelief in his wife’s hallucinations is another common cliché and with so much conventionalism thrown in, the identity of the killer is certainly foreseeable. The father-son’s estrangement is never clearly established either. Technically, the editing is smart especially in the latter portions where the past and present run in parallel frames. The trademark disturbing camera movements for the spooky effect works well. The scenic hill-station of Ooty, however, could have been captured on the lens with more elegance than the camera’s confinements to its commercial bylanes. The performances are passable. Carlucci Weyant as the disbelieving husband carries the same straight-faced expression throughout. Vijayendra Ghatge repeats his royal-person act from Marigold . Claudia Ciesla lacks screen-presence, acting ability and comes without the much talked-about topless scene.
Only Alma Saraci is worth a mention for her pleasing personality and ‘spirited’ performance. Karma is age-old Bollywood masala, simply served with a cross-country cast and setting. Even the Cannes consent mark doesn’t help.
