13B
u/a; horror
Dir: K Vikram Kumar
Cast: Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Poonam Dhillon, Sachin Khedekar
u00a0* *

What's it about: In what makes a strong case for and against the television and the soaps that appear on various channels, is a film called 13B. Ironically, you keep wishing the film would air as a well-made telefilm rather than a half-baked feature film.

Manohar's (Madhavan) face turns out contorted on his camera phone while watching a new show on television called Sab Khairiyat. He can't drill holes in the temple room wall. The lift won't work when he's alone in it. And that's just the beginning of it. Slowly, he discovers that the storyline of the show pre-empts the events in his own life.

First, he's intrigued, then he's worried. Then things take on a sinister form. He finds out that his wife will suffer a miscarriage, and that his friend's wife may die of a domestic cylinder explosion. And then, something much worse is scheduled to happen.

Will he and his family make it out in one piece? And is it just the house that seems alive?

What's hot, what's not: If you aren't a big fan of the idiot box, you should find some gratification in the bludgeoning it gets. There are a few who would find the debate on TV soaps actually becoming a drag as the movie progresses. Too much time is spent familiarising you with the family members. But that and a lot more is to be expectedu2026 the film has an air of the sort of filmmaking that's prevalent in the south. The songs in the film disappoint. Manohar's the sort of stock characters that abound in horror flicks: the clairvoyant trying to be the protector. Neetu Chandra has her dutiful wife role down to an art. No real surprises. Poonam Dhillon doesn't really sit pretty in the maa-at-home mode and seems a miscast. The sound and background score, which is so central to most horror flicks today, is ordinary. There are no clear-cut scares. No poltergeists. Just a hyperactive TV. The flashback scenes and the supporting acts therein are some of the few things Vikram deserves a pat on the back for.