Dybbuk review: Emraan Hashmi, Nikita Dutta led horror is a poetic misfire, fails to evoke any thrill

Movie: Dybbuk

Director: Jay K

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Nikita Dutt, Manav Kaul, Darshana Banik, Denzil Smith

Stars: 2/5

There have been more than enough horror misfires in Hindi films over a decade, which leads to a pertinent question, is horror one of the most difficult genres to crack? Not just in India, but most horror films the world over fail to make a mark and rather nod to the formulaic filmmaking in the genre. An uncertain death, spooky silence, abandoned mansion, mysterious back story of the ghost, camera lurking behind the curtain, scars jumping right out of the cupboard, electricity failure in the house, and of course the rain! Dybbuk ticks all the boxes and more stereotypes that you can think of attached to the genre.

The storyline of the film revolves around a Jewish myth about spirits that are locked in the box called Dybbuk and end up causing havoc as they are unleashed. Emraan’s character finds a work-related project that leads him to Mauritius to a villa rented by his employers. Emraan and Nikita’s characters are finding it hard to adjust to their surroundings and their moment’s joy gets ruined when Dybbuk arrives at their house through antic shopping. 

Not only the traits of the story but director Jay K’s approach to shot design offers nothing novel. The film is less scary and more of a drag which is begging to reach the climax. One of the trickiest aspects of directing a horror genre is the approach towards crowd-pleasing. The audience comes with a set expectation of feeling a certain way during a horror film and hence the filmmakers feel compelled to devour their vision and serve the ‘scare’. Nobody expects to fall in love while watching a romantic film in the theater but everybody wants to legitimately get scared out of their wits during a horror story, which sets a unique challenge for the filmmakers.

Emraan’s performance in the film is the mirror image of someone sleepwalking without any adjustment. He delivers the dialogue in a less than enthusiastic way and essentially covers the beat of the scenes without much emotion. Nikita Dutta has had to carry the load of scaring the audience at several points and she justified her character. An actor is essentially just banking on their imagination while performing the scene with a ghost in the room and Nikita does not feel out of place.

Dybbuk is an unenthusiastic horror tale that mends in its own mediocrity without even making an effort to rise above it. The film does not evoke any emotion out of a viewer. Dybbuk is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Let’s take it one Friday at a time!

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