Ek Thi Daayan
- Director
- Kannan Iyer
- Studio
- ALT EntertainmentVB Pictures
- Release Date
- 18 April 2013
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹24.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹40.25 Cr
Review
Kannan Iyer's *Ek Thi Daayan* is a genuinely unsettling psychological thriller that demonstrates far more ambition than his typical output, though it remains frustratingly uneven in execution. The film's central conceit—blurring the line between supernatural horror and psychological delusion through hypnotic regression—is compelling enough to elevate it above conventional Bollywood horror fare like *1920* or *Ragini MMS*. Emraan Hashmi's performance as Bobo strikes a delicate balance between vulnerability and obsession; his wide-eyed terror during the childhood flashbacks and his manic adult paranoia create a protagonist whose unreliability keeps viewers perpetually off-balance. The real asset here is Konkona Sen Sharma's Diana, who radiates an otherworldly menace that suggests Hitchcock's most disturbing femme fatales—there's genuine danger in her seductive charm.
Where the film stumbles is in its tonal inconsistency and narrative pacing. The middle section drags under the weight of unnecessary exposition, and the film's final act struggles to land its emotional devastation with the precision it deserves. Visually, cinematographer Rajeev Ravi crafts some genuinely atmospheric moments—the red moon sequences and the apartment's claustrophobic interiors create genuine dread—but these moments feel scattered rather than orchestrated. What prevents this from being merely average is Iyer's willingness to venture into morally murky territory and his refusal to provide easy answers,
Storyline
So there's this super famous magician in India named Bobo who seems to have it all figured out, but honestly his mind is completely spiraling. He keeps having these terrifying visions of his little sister Misha who passed away, and it's getting so bad that he can barely function. One day he finds himself back at his old family apartment, and when he opens this old chest, he sees something that completely shatters him—which is why he finally decides to get help from this really strange therapist.
The doctor puts Bobo under hypnosis to explore his childhood memories, and things get wild from there. It turns out that when Bobo was just a kid, he stumbled upon a book about witchcraft and discovered this number that supposedly opened a secret floor in their building. He convinced his little sister that this hidden floor was basically hell, a place where all the evil people in the building got sent after they died. Then this mysterious and super charming woman named Diana moves into their building, and Bobo becomes convinced that she's actually a witch—a "daayan" as they call it.
Diana manages to seduce Bobo's father and they get married, but Bobo starts uncovering some seriously dark secrets about her. He learns that her power comes from her hair, and as a terrible red moon rises, everything takes a sinister turn. Without giving away what happens next, let's just say that things escalate in ways that are absolutely devastating for the family, and Bobo's childhood trauma becomes far more complicated than anyone could have imagined.
