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CREATURE 3D (U/A)
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Cast: Bipasha Basu, Imran Abbas Naqvi, Mukul Dev, Deepraj Rana
Running time: 135 minutes
Is it a dinosaur? Is it a lizard? Is it Phantom? No, it’s a deadly combination of all of the above, plus a silly moustache. The six-pack-abs toting, human-chomping rakshasa is the latest arrival at director Vikram Bhatt’s favourite shooting location — a hilly setting a six-hour drive from Delhi. And Bips? No Jurassic-age creature can make our brave Ballygunge babe break into a sweat!
Creature 3D is, in fact, one of those rare Bolly flicks where the computer-generated creature looks more real than the entire film. All the scenes between the opening of Ahana’s (Bipasha Basu) labour of love, Glendale Forest Hotel, and the firing of decades-old bullets sanctified with holy water, it’s the rakshasa that steals the show.
There are no ghosts and there are no unexplainable noises in the hotel. The beast is as real as in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, complete with roars, growls and puffs. The gym-sculpted figure — who has no place in heaven or hell, thus roaming the earth for centuries — arrives after a peepal tree is cut down to make way for a highway. The tree was something of a lakshman rekha.
And it’s definitely non-vegetarian. First it gulps the driver carrying goods to the newly-opened hotel. Then one half of a couple on honeymoon at the hotel. And then the talented chef of the hotel, who earlier impressed Ahana with his sponge cake-making skills. Being a cocksure villain, it even leaves behind one clue after each meal –– the victim’s leg or hand!
You must be wondering about the whereabouts of the hero, the Pakistani model Imran Abbas Naqvi (plays Kunal). He is busy singing and falling in love with Ahana while people mistake him for a talented writer. He has a bigger role to play in Ahana’s past events than in the film’s present or future needs.
Following her dad’s death — the result of threats from real-estate agents — Ahana sells her Mumbai pad and invests in the hotel. Little does she know that this bloke had more than a tiny role in all of that. Anyway, he successfully strikes a pose in every other scene… just like a model.
With the hotel losing its reputation, action must be taken. The small police force — namely the boss and his well-natured sidekick — is forced to enjoy a slice of the action. The entire team comes face-to-face with the CGI-generated creature and almost empties the ammunition supply available in town. All fails, giving Vikram Bhatt more time to torture a near-empty theatre (on Friday morning).
They are introduced to a priest who knows how the rakshasa was tackled the last time –– by the shikari-dad of a doctor who lives somewhere in Shimla. He supplies them with seven bullets and a gun, which has been dipped in sacred water. After some misfiring, Ahana cuts her hand to lay a trail of blood running right up to the hotel to attract Mr Moustache.
By now you must have guessed how the plot winds up. After all, with Creature 3D Vikram Bhatt has taken creepiness to a new level.
