13B Movie Review by Sputnik

Director: Vikram Kumar
Cast: R Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Poonam Dhillon, Deepak Dobriyal

13B is a spooky supernatural thriller. Manohar (Madhavan), moves into a new apartment, 13B on the 13th floor with his extended family. The lift does’nt work only for him and his picture taken from his cell phone keeps getting distorted. The women in his family are hooked to a new TV show “Sab Khairiyat” which comes on the channel 13 at 13:00 hrs daily. Manohar notices that the family in the TV show is eerily similar to his and the incidents that happen in the serial happen to his family. He is now worried about their safety and along with a cop friend of his begins to unravel the mystery. Will he be able to save them in time is what the rest of the movie is about.

13B is engrossing and keeps the viewer hooked on to the happenings in the movie just as his family is hooked on to the TV show. Some of the scenes are very good like the one where Manohar tries to find out if his wife is going to survive, by watching the TV show or when Manohar finds out that the TV show “Sab Khariyat” is completely different from the one that comes on his TV or the one where he finds out who the murderer is.

Now the flaws. Some of the scenes are repetitive. Neetu Chandra says the same dialogues every time Madhavan asks her about the TV show. Why bad things happen to Madhavan and his family is never explained and the last few scenes seem little whacky.

Madhavan is very good as Manohar and gives a very natural performance as someone who is concerned for his family. Neetu Chandra lends good support as his wife. Deepak Dobriyal and Sachin Khedekar are good. The rest of the cast is ok.

Vikram Kumar’s direction is good for the most part. He builds up the story towards a crescendo only to lose it a bit towards the end. The movie thankfully does not involve any tantrik’s, black magic and voodoo stuff. The director tries to explain the paranormal events in a scientific way. The movie is not your regular horror movie filled with tacky sound effects. The movie is more of a suspense thriller and Vikram Kumar deserves credit for keeping the movie interesting almost till the end.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)