Phobia (A)

Director: Pavan Kirpalani

Cast: Radhika Apte, Satyadeep Mishra, Yashaswini Dayama, Ankur Vikal, Nivedita Bhattacharya

Running time: 114 minutes

Fear. That which disturbs us. That which also defines us. That which makes us unable to face life and its challenges. That which also sometimes forces us to confront the worst outside and even within us.

Phobia is the kind of film that makes us examine our own fears... the fear of the unknown and the unseen... and gently but emphatically puts forward the question: can one phobia push us enough to triumph over the phobia of another?

Phobia, a one-actor show helmed and owned by the supremely talented Radhika Apte, starts off with successful and spunky artist Mahek (Radhika) hitching a cab ride in the middle of the night after a sell-out exhibition. Hours later, she’s left battered and bloody on the road as a sexual assault survivor that takes its toll on her in more ways than one: she develops deep-seated agoraphobia — the fear of unknown people and unfamiliar places — that hounds Mahek even when she has to put one foot out of the door to dump her garbage.

When therapy fails, her part-time lover and full-time friend Shaan (Satyadeep Mishra) decides to help her confront her fears by letting her live alone in a friend’s rented accommodation. But it’s a house with a mysterious past, a missing former tenant and suspicious neighbours and very soon, Mahek finds her worst fears come alive — she can’t stay in... she can’t step out.

Director Pavan Kirpalani crafts a smart psychological thriller in which seemingly everyday objects and situations — the lamp left flickering because of a loose connection, the door left slightly ajar by mistake, the neighbour’s black cat that crawls in looking for shelter — end up being ominous and threatening. As Mahek, alone and deeply phobic, sees it all play out in front of her — the severed finger in the ice tray, a deadly killer on the prowl and eventually a bloodied body crawling out of the bathtub — you feel her fear as your own, but with a rider: you don’t really know if all this is truly happening or is a figment of Mahek’s increasingly unhinged mind.

And that’s where Phobia’s biggest triumph as a horror film lies — even as it plays out just within the four walls of an apartment, it unleashes a sense of fear and foreboding so powerful that it physically cripples you in your plex seat. At one point, I jumped in my seat when a neighbour’s recliner let out a creak too many. Yes, it’s that real. 

Phobia isn’t a film without its flaws. Even at 114 minutes, it feels a tad too long and the twist at the end, though neat, leaves you wanting more. 

But if there is one reason for you to invest in a ticket this weekend, then let that be Radhika Apte. Bolly’s new go-to girl for all roles hatke delivers a mother of a performance, inhabiting her role like very few can. She has able support in Satyadeep Mishra and Yashaswini Dayama as Mahek’s bright-eyed neighbour Nikky, but it is Radhika who makes Phobia come alive with every creaking door and every spooky footstep, those eyes mirroring a fear that could grip you anytime, anywhere.
Wait, who’s that behind you?! 

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