‘3G’ is an Eros International ‘Next Gen films’ production and as such is a slickly rendered and beautifully presented horror thriller helmed by director duo Shantanu and Sheershak.
Film: 3G Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sonal Chauhan Director: Shantanu Ray, Sheershak Anand |
The premise is based on a phantom menace postulated on screen just before the opening credits. “There are 4.3 Billion mobile phone users in the world. Every minute 60 thousand ‘Phantom Calls’ are received world-wide. These calls have no known source of origin, no numbers and cannot be traced.
Some people believe that these calls are spirits trying to connect to our world.” So in other words – get ready for one such fictionalised dramatisation brought to you in Technicolor glory with all the expected thrills, scares, mutilations and blood spills designed to scare you. But does it do its job of scaring the viewer? Well, I’d say, ‘not exactly!’
Set in Fiji like ‘Table No 21’, this film has all the intrinsic ingredients of a schlock treat. The locales are stunning and are captured with enlivening virtuosity. The central protagonists Sam and Sheena are played by Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonal Chauhan, who make for a good-looking young couple caught up in the vortex of consciously orchestrated fear and mayhem. And the premeditated sequence of stock horror set-ups, though expected, look spiffy. What the film lacks though is a strong logic.
One might argue that even the best of horror films don’t thrive on logic. And that is very true too. But the fact is they do have conviction and their presentation is such that one gets totally immersed in that fictionalised ideology. ‘3G,’ though it is one of the best of it’s class – i.e the Bollywood horror film genre, does not have much conviction to back it’s horror spiel.
Sheena is holidaying in Fiji already, while waiting for her boyfriend Sam to join her there. After citing work pressure and cancelling his visit to the isle, he surprises her, leading to a passionate embrace, which knocks his phone off his jacket straight into the sea.
Off they go to buy a replacement, finds one he fancies in the row of second-hand 3G models and is quick to grab it. But once he’s got it, his troubles exacerbate and Sam and Sonal find themselves plagued by paranormal activity. Is it a ghost or an enemy? The answers of course, lies in Sam’s past and until the couple track the mobile back to its first owner they remain clueless and edgy from the never ending series of life-and-death scenarios they are thrust into.
The narrative is an audience pleasing mix of soft-porn and designer chills. There’s a bouquet full of passionate embraces, sensual kisses and plentiful semi-nudity. Both Neil and Sonal do great justice to their characters. The Japanese cinematographer and the editor Sanjay Sharma, combine well to create some really wonderfully gratifying visual moments and the minimalistic background score adds a certain potency to it.
This film may be visually quite up there with the best but unfortunately it doesn’t have the bite to make it scary enough to count.
