My Review of Ek Thi Daayan

etd Starring – Emraan Hashmi, Konkana Sen, Huma Qureshi and Kalki.

Director – Kannan Iyer

Here is my short review of Ek thi Daayan. As most of us may have guessed it, it’s a supernatural horror movie, directed by Kannan Iyer and produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and Ekta Kapoor. The expectations were decent for the movie from the audience and the movie does gives more than expected.

Emraan plays a magician, with Huma being his love interest. His magic tricks being very amusing, he is one of the most famous too. The 1st half is about Emraan’s flashback from his childhood memories and 2nd half about his present and how he deals with them.

I do not want to divulge even a bit of story, as it may tantamount to spoiler. So I would just go ahead with my conclusion without an actual review. It’s based on the witchcraft, black magic, etc. The story is breezy, enthralling and engaging. There are no dull moments! Yes, though being in a horror genre, the movie does not have dull moments. It’s a rarity which this movie could achieve in this particular genre.  It has couple of likeable songs but doesn’t spoil the flow. The climax could have been better though.

Hum and Kalki are good in their respective roles. Konakana Sen, the tried, tested and proved actor, proves once again does her bit and makes the movie chilling with her performance. Emraan is growing as an actor with every movie and he does give a good performance in the role, where most of the scenes were dominated by his female counterparts. The kids had performed well, especially the one in the 1st half.

Overall, Ek Thi Daayan is one of the best to come out in horror genre from India. After 1920, this is the movie which gave me couple of scary moments. Definitely recommended.

Ratings – 3.5/5

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15 Comments
  1. Serenzy 11 years ago

    Looks better than Emmy’s outings with THE Bhatts!?

    • Author
      I.One 11 years ago

      Yes! Movie as a whole is a gripping perfect scary movie, except for the climax.

  2. rajiv bhatia 11 years ago

    But I didn’t like it, like others- ragini MMS, the dirty picture, ouatim, love sex aur dhoka and black, guzaarish and rowdy rathore much.
    sanjay leela Bhansali along with ekta kapoor is the worst things that happened to bollywood , both have only produced crappy films.

    • Author
      I.One 11 years ago

      Rajiv, where is SLB comes into picture here? It is not a collaboration of Ekta and SLB, in fact it is produced by Ekta and Vishal Bhardwaj.

  3. syed imran 11 years ago

    watched the movie yesterday night…the movie is scary and gives you goose bumps whenever the witch comes on screen.. it got some very scary moments which will leave you frightened ..the film holds you from the opening credits till the intermission point and you dont even blink your eye for a single second… but unfortunately post interval the movie loses the grip and goes completely haywire… The story which started well goes berserk and ends with a tacky climax… The writer vishal bhardwaj is to be blamed for not completely carrying forward the story in a proper way.. The film is saved with just an interesting and scary first half and some wonderful performances from konkana and emraan… just a one time watchable and that too solely for the first half…. will go with only 3 stars for it…

  4. Reddemon 11 years ago

    Watched ETD

    And i didnt like it.
    1st half was ok. 2nd half was bad and climax was the worst one.

    Climax was not written properly and it was too straightforward without any twist.
    None of the actor acted well in the Climax which makes it even bad.

    ***Spoilers***
    They should have shown more of Witch harrasing Emraan and family.
    I thot the whole Idea of climax was somewhat similar to Raaz3.

    *** Spoilers ka The End***

    it had couple of scary scenes in the first half but 2nd half was very bad.

  5. Baba 11 years ago

    I am not a fan of horror films especially the indian horror films which only have one trick of adding cheap thrills to get reactions.

    • Author
      I.One 11 years ago

      Ya Babaji, ETD have thrills, but most of them are not cheap. Agree that many Indian horror movies does not have that “scary” factor, but there are 2 which did had. 1920 and ETD are the best scary movies to come out of India. Regarding movies released in other parts of the world, have seen many and they too have some stupid thrills and cliches. Though, this movie is not like top 10 horror movies of all time, but it is one of the best to come out of India.

  6. sputnik 11 years ago

    The general consensus seems to be that the first half is good but the second half/climax is bad. According to some second half it is like a Vikram Bhatt film.

    CilemaSnob tweeted that “A friend who saw the film n just read the script said they have just killed the 2nd half of the script. Film has something else.”

  7. syed imran 11 years ago

    Agree with you…. Second half makes you feel you are watching some other emran hashmi movie..They made a mess of the second half… Had the post interval portions been good with tighter screenplay, engaging scenes and some scary thrills, the movie would have been one of the best horror movies of bollywood….. Don’t know what was there in their mind while shooting the second part.

    • Author
      I.One 11 years ago

      Agree about 2nd half being cliched, but can you tell about any other better horror movie from Indian film industry? It felt like you are comparing this movie with any other, across genres. IMO this would be an injustice to the movie. Compare the movie within the same genre, may be you will find your point of view being slightly altered about ETD.

  8. syed imran 11 years ago

    haunted, raaz1, 1920 nd itz sequel to name a few…..they were engaging, thrilling and kept you at the edge of your seat from beginning till end.. Indeed ETD is quite different from the above mentioned movies and other regular horror stuff churned out these days.. But the sad part is it keeps you entertained and hooked on only till the intermission point… There were quite loopholes too in the second part.. They should have revealed a somewhat better suspense in the climax… Like others even I agree that its climax was quite similar to raaz 3.. emraan going to the hell and saving the kid from the hands of the daayans…The story started on a promising note with an interesting storyline and after the intermission everybody was curious to know what happens post interval but were letdown with lazy climax, poor screenplay and not so shocking suspense.. and yes my views on this movie are keeping in mind other horror movies…

  9. Serenzy 11 years ago

    Now we surely know that it was Ekta Kapoor who has changed the 2nd Half/Climax as opposed to the one there in the Script, to probably make it more catering to Emmy’s ‘Mass Audience’.
    We had read reports pertaining to it, right?
    Her fight with Bharadwaj over it.

    Utter Stupidity.

  10. Nilda 11 years ago

    Did not like the movie. First half is ok but the second half is a serious let down. I found the story quite ridiculous. Actually after the story is revealed even the first half looks useless. None of the characters stood out they all appear confusing. Climax is badly shot with no horror element. Acting wise only Konkana is good, Emraan and Kalki are ok while Huma is bad and specially in the climax

  11. sputnik 11 years ago

    Kannan Iyer agrees the second half of ETD goes wrong

    Ek Thi Daayan director Kannan Iyer who has taken off on a holiday after the release of his film, agrees with the critics who feel the second-half of the film has gone wrong.

    Soft spoken and thoughtful, the director who waited ten years to make his directorial debut says, “Maybe commercial considerations coloured the second movement of the storytelling. To me, the core of the story in Ek Thi Daayan is the relationship between the children and their stepmother who they think might be a witch. I was not interested in the horror or the supernatural elements per se. It was the inherent drama in the theme that interested me. It’s always the drama that grips me.”

    Kannan can’t thank his stars enough for discovering the two children Visshesh Tiwari and Sara Arjun. “Pavan Malhotra and Konkona Sen-Sharma who played their parents would have their jaws fall open when they would see the kids perform. It’s amazing how much talent there’s among today’s youngsters.”

    Kannan’s delayed directorial debut is attributable to a lack of writing talent in the film industry. Says Kannan, “Though early in my career I’ve been credited with co-writing Ram Gopal Varma’s Daud, I am not really a writer. In fact it was the lack of writing resources that delayed my journey into direction. My producer Vishal Bhardwaj and I finally found a story that we both liked. It was a one-page story by Mukul Sharma about two kids using a lift to descend into the ground floor which they thought was hell. Vishal wanted to build on that theme to incorporate the idea of witches in a contemporary setting.”

    Kannan now wants more writers to come forward, so he can focus on his next film. “We desperately need writing resources. Screenplays need to be developed the way they are by Hollywood studios at a leisurely pace before they are put on screen. Unfortunately, here in India we cannot afford to spend time and money developing screenplays.”

    The directors feels the industry needs to urgently foster writing talent. “I’d like to see more writing talent come forward. But for that sort of indulgence, my first film as director has to do well.”

    Though Kannan is a late bloomer as a director, he is in no hurry to direct another film. “I won’t plunge into another film until I am sure of the writing. I waited to make my first film. I can wait again.”

    https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/news/view/id/1794481

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