Film Reviews: Tarkieb / Sleepy Hollow

THE master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock once said he did not make too many ``whodunit'' films because they lacked emotion. It was just an intellectual exercise where the only objective was to pin the murderer down.

If one tries to assess Esmayeel Shroff's ``Tarkieb'' on those lines, then one can conclude that the film is sadly lacking both in intelligence and emotion.

The film begins on a positively promising note. But as it progresses, logic seems to take a backseat and the climax becomes a damp squib! The audience is literally left in the lurch!

The plot is very simple and straightforward. A decapitated body of a woman is found in a rivulet (just a hand is found floating in the water!). As the head is missing, identification is initially not possible. But soon the head is found and the victim is identified as Roshni, a military nurse, played by Tabu. (One wonders how Tabu accepted such a role!)

Enter CBI investigator Jasraj Patel, played by Nana Patekar. His job is to interview the suspects, which he does in his inimitable style. The suspects? Roshni's doctor boyfirned Ajit (Milind Soman), another doctor (Ashutosh Rana), her employer after she quits the Army (Aditya Pancholi) and her `best friend' and room mate (Shilpa Shetty) There is also this unkempt looking canteen supplier with shifty eyes, played by Akilendra Misra, who also lusts after Tabu. Patel is assisted in his investigation by Tikku Talsania and Raghubir Yadav (who is supposed to be blind).

The role is a cakewalk for Nana Patekar. His trademark style of dialogue delivery in fact lifts the film from becoming a complete torture. It is ``twist and shake your hips'' time for Shilpa Shetty, who sizzles on screen (that is what she is meant to do, anyway!). Macho model Milind Soman who makes his big screen debut, shows promise. Music by Aadesh Shrivatsay serves the purpose.

Looks like Esmayeel Shroff lost his way, half way through the film. The second half drags on and on... and when you think there is finally some twist to the plot, Patekar waves you goodbye! So much for suspense!

SAVITHA PADMANABHAN

Sleepy Hollow

THE PHOTOGRAPHY is brilliant and... the brilliance stops there. The rest is gore that extends to the grotesque. The camera work, particularly in the scenes where the horseman charges down the woods and zeroes in on his victim, is out of the world. The director of photography is Emmanuel Lubezki.

The way the Headless Horseman gallops around, chopping off heads as if they were onions, and with absolute precision too, tends to become repulsive and even boring after a point.

Paramount Pictures and Mandalay Pictures' presentation, ``Sleepy Hollow'', is a story set in 1799. The spirit of the Headless Horseman murders people in the village of Sleepy Hollow. Yet he does not kill indiscriminately. His victims are chosen with care. And that creates a pattern which enables Constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), to trace the living person who controls the spirit and orders the bloody bath. Eventually the instigator of the killings becomes a prey to the Headless horseman.

The ratiocinating constable Crane is very sceptical about the role of the supernatural in the murders, initially. He tries to see logic and reason in everything and so comes across as a person whom the audience can identify with.

Johnny Depp lends a touch of plausibility to the character he plays. Actor Christopher Lee (of horror films fame) makes a brief appearance as the New York City burgomaster who sends Crane to Sleepy Hollow.

Hideous horror in the form of human heads buried under the Tree of Death, the faceless face of the woman who tells them about the tree and the ghastly end of Van Tessel inside the church add to the eerie atmosphere. The visual effects and special effects are fantastic.

Just when you think the movie could be nearing its end, it gets protracted for another 20 minutes. Action-filled moments no doubt, but ones that come rather late.

Sinisterity and ghoulishness are inseparable features of ``Sleepy Hollow'' directed by Tim Burton, and if you have a penchant for them you could go ahead and watch the film.

MALATHI RANGARAJAN

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