1920 Evil Returns Behind The Scenes

[Eliecer Brathwaite]

Thefilm released on 2 November 2012 to mixed reception and fared better at the opening Box Office weekend (122.7 million Net.) as compared to any other releases that week except Skyfall (270 million Net.).[5] U Dinesh Kumar, Professor at IIM Bangalore and his team worked with Ami Shah of IntelliAssist, the company that carried out the social media marketing for the film, and assessed Internet activities and campaigns with the case study later published by Harvard Business Publishing.[6][7][8]

In 1920, Jaidev Verma is a famous poet who lives as a loner as he is unable to meet the love of his life, Smriti. They got to know each other through an exchange of letters and slowly fall in love. One day, Jaidev receives a letter informing him that Smriti had died by an accident. His sister Karuna is the only support system that keeps him motivated. Jaidev finds an unconscious girl near a lake and brings her home. After gaining consciousness, she is unable to remember anything from her life except Jaidev's poems. Karuna becomes skeptical of her presence in the house and gets even more so when an undertaker warns them of an evil spirit inside her.

Jaidev is insistent on keeping her at home since he feels a connection to her. He names her Sangeeta and she experiences frightening phenomena, vomiting iron nails and seeing ghosts in her room. On their way to see a doctor, Sangeeta gets possessed by the ghost. To save her, the only person Jaidev can turn to is the cemetery keeper. Slowly Jaidev gets to know that Sangeeta is actually his lost love Smriti. He goes to Smriti's address to find out the truth about her. He discovers that Karuna had come there earlier, asking about Smriti. Jaidev returns home and finds Karuna's body hanging in the forest with suicide notes around it. From Karuna's letters, he learns that his best friend Amar, who envied Jaidev's success, assaulted Karuna. When Amar discovered that Jaidev loved Smriti, he went to Smriti, posing as Jaidev, and took her to his residence in Shimla to abuse her, but in the process, Amar was killed. It is his spirit that now possesses Smriti.

Jaidev is badly injured in the battle against the spirit. The spirit in Smriti's body burns Amar's corpse, thus forever remaining in her body. Jaidev helplessly pleads with the spirit to kill him, since there is no meaning in letting him live if the spirit will take Smriti from him. Amar's spirit refuses, saying that this is exactly what he wanted: for Jaidev to suffer. Jaidev cuts a rope attached to a loft in ceiling; a corpse falls from there, landing on Smriti, and making contact with her. It is revealed in a flashback that Jaidev and the group had hidden the real corpse of Amar in the ceiling as precaution. The corpse comes alive as Amar is forced to return to his original body. Enraged, Amar's corpse tries to kill Smriti, but Jaidev saves her and sets Amar's corpse on fire, thus freeing Amar's spirit. Jaidev and Smriti get married and the film ends as they consummate their union.

Renuka Vyavahare of Times of India gave it 3 stars. "1920 gives you the creeps...watch it." said ToI.[11] Rediff Movies said "1920 Evil Returns is yet another needless horror film. It's cold and bland." and gave it 1 star.[12] Roshni Devi of Koimoi gave it 2 stars. "Watch it only if you're desperate for some uninspiring horror. Give it a rest otherwise." wrote Roshni Devi.[13] Social Movie Rating site MOZVO gave it a rating of 2.3 putting it in 'Below Average' category.[14] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 2.5 stars.[15]

In 1920, Jaidev Verma (Aftab Shivdasani) is a famous poet who lives the life of a loner as he is unable to meet the love of his life, Smriti (Tia Bajpai). They got to know each other through an exchange of letters and slowly fall in love. One day, Jaidev receives a letter informing him that Smriti had an accident and died. Now his sister Karuna (Vidya Malvade) is the only support system that keeps him motivated. One day Jaidev finds an unconscious girl near a lake and brings her home. After gaining consciousness, she is unable to remember anything from her past life except Jaidev's poems. Karuna becomes skeptical of her presence in the house and gets even more so when the keeper of the cemetery warns them of an evil spirit inside of her who is in love with her.

Jaidev is insistent on keeping her at home since he feels a connection with her. He even names her Sangeeta. Strange & spooky things start happening with Sangeeta like vomiting iron nails and seeing ghosts in her room. On their way to see a doctor, Sangeeta gets completely possessed by the ghost. To save her, the only person Jaidev can turn to is the cemetery keeper. Slowly Jaidev gets to know that Sangeeta is actually his lost love Smriti. He goes to Smriti's old address to find the truth. He discovers that Karuna had come there before, asking about Smriti. Jaidev returns home and finds Karuna's body hanging in the forest with suicide notes around it. From Karuna's letters, he comes to know that his best friend Amar (Sharad Kelkar), who was always jealous of Jaidev's success, exploited Karuna to get his revenge. When Amar discovered that Jaidev loved Smriti, he went to Smriti, posing as Jaidev, and took her to his residence in Shimla to exploit her, but in the process, Amar dies. It is his spirit possessing Smriti.

Jaidev is badly injured in the battle of evil versus just, and the spirit in Smriti burns the corpse of Amar, thus forever remaining in her body. Jaidev helplessly pleads with the spirit to kill him since there is no meaning in letting him live if the spirit will take Smriti from him. Amar's spirit refuses, saying that this is exactly what he wanted: for Jaidev to suffer. Jaidev cuts a rope attached to a loft in ceiling; a corpse falls from there, landing on Smriti, and making contact with her touch. It is revealed in a flashback that Jaidev and the group had hidden the real corpse of Amar in the ceiling as precaution. The corpse comes alive as Amar is forced to return to his original body. Enraged, Amar's corpse tries to kill Smriti but Jaidev saves her and sets Amar's corpse on fire thus releasing Amar's spirit from the karmic cycle of life and death. Jaidev marries Smriti and they live happily with each other in the end.

Vikram Bhatt has taken over the horror genre since RGV went haywire handing over his cell phone cameras to his actors. This is not to say that Bhatt has been producing masterpieces at a prolific rate, but is still stuck in the Bermuda Triangle of Bollywood: where songs and a 'classic' treatment are used to tell an oft-repackaged tale of possessive spirits and their exorcisms.

1920 Evil Returns has nothing to do with the equally horrlarious 1920 though it is still set in the English countryside pretending to be the Himachal countryside. And it is still 1920. We know this only because of the title of the film because a sense of the modern seeps through. It's all very abstract and KJo-ish of course trying to pass off England as pre-independence India. Even the help here dresses well. This is poor production design because you know they're faking it. It is not only the mere absence of contemporary props and architecture, but rather the skill of the art department in creating the period that enriches the experience and convinces an audience of its authenticity. Horse carriages and candles don't a period make.

Anyway, Aftab Shivdasani is an alcoholic poet and in love with a woman whom he exchanges letters with and has never met. But she does come into his life with her yaaddash lost and revealingly puts a tune to his written words. This sounds more dramatic than it really is. Now enter a few bhatko-ing aatmas (body is in another village, kabootars are taking off in another cemetery) and well, a lot of the rest you've already seen in The Exorcist. What is with that? Why is Bollywood STILL stealing scenes and concepts from The Exorcist? It is 39 years old and everyone and their grandparents have seen it!

Having said that, director Bhushan Patel's clichd climax does have a couple of mild twists, a singing ghost, and a feisty performance by Tia Bajpai that somewhat rescue you from the tiresome screenplay. But it's too little too late.

Even technically, 1920: ER is well below par. For a film that was supposed to have only the sun, moon, and candles as practical sources of light; scenes are brightly lit, especially the exteriors with looming HMIs hiding behind trees and throwing a perfect spread of dazzle that even the Ramsays would scoff at. Songs are entirely unnecessary appendages, the camera is uninspired, and most disappointing of all: the horror elements don't work. If anything, they're unintentionally funny. If you're looking for a fright, stay home, switch off the lights, and put on a DVD of the original The Exorcist.

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