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Naina is directed by Shripal Morakhia, and stars Urmila
Matondkar, Anuj Sawhney, Amardeep Jha, Shweta Konnur, and
Kamini Khanna. The film's musical score is composed by Salim
and Suleman Merchant. ***
Naina follows the life of the title character. A young
woman who lost her sight as an infant, she gets an eye transplant,
allowing her regain her once-lost sense. But the eyes she
got are anything but normal - they belonged to an outcast
who once loathed the world. Although grateful and happy
that she now has her sense of sight back, she now sees mysterious,
often less-than-satisfying premonitions. ***
It's impossible to read a review for Naina and not
read some comparison to The Eye…. And why not? Naina is
a rather blatant, less-than-satisfying rip-off of that film
that never quite hits the mark. The props are unconvincing,
the direction and pacing weak, the cast seems uninterested,
and perhaps most of all, the movie just isn't that frightening.
Horror movies are supposed to spook their audiences, but
this one feels more like a big joke due to the often lackluster
execution. ***
The film has often been referred to as a remake of
The Eye, but the result here feels ill-contrived and often
like a plagiarized one. It's often fun to watch remakes
of Asian horror films, because the directors of different
nationalities tend to put their own unique spin on things.
And while these remakes never surpass the originals, it's
at least fun to see what another director and crew did with
the source material. Sadly, Naina doesn't even have that
going for it. There's just not much worth writing home about,
since so much of it seems like a rehash. ***
In the end, there's just not enough here to fully recommend
the movie. If you were a fan of The Eye and want to see
the spin another culture put on things, by all means check
it out - but even then, don't set your standards and expectations
too high, ---
Image And Sound:
The film gets a nice-looking and sounding transfer to
the DVD format. The picture is always clear and nearly free
of blemishes, while sound quality fares just as well. Overall,
I'd call this a quality transfer.
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