Pluskylang Great Film overall

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

steffycyril Ekta Kapoor is known for creating hot characters even if she is a girl.She is the queen of Balaji Telefilms.This is one good picture made by her together with Vishal Bharadwaj. The background is completely dark in most scenes.And there is suspicion as to what and why.The film is beautiful due to the presence of selected persons.Each of them excel in their roles.The background music is subtle and is different from Emraan Hashmi's conventional movies with item songs. The dream is created in an artistic way.The scenes are cut shorted as per the need.There is no question of any costume or set.The content is the story. But yes,the climax could have been much better.Its an original account of the concept of Daayan and is one of the best selection to show the love to his wife and child.All in all,it is a different attempt like MAKDEE made by Ekta.

Vikas SS For an audience that has gotten used to spooky flicks that range from scary to sorcery, flying ghosts, witches, sudden shock element, etc., it is incredibly tough to come up with something new. This is especially true of Bollywood that has seen an overdose of Ram Gopal Verma flicks. Amidst all the gloom comes a refreshing 'Ek Thi Daayan' with a gripping story, although the climax goes tad haywire.Magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) is a successful magician who suddenly is being troubled by strange visions. When hypnotized, it is revealed that he holds a dark secret to how his sister and father died and the story being the spooky elevator in the building where he lived as a child. The more he seems to dig into the past to unearth its antecedents, the deeper he gets into the mystic world. Not any more should be revealed about the story because it is a worthy suspense. The first thing I did after watching 'Ek Thi Daayan' was to Google out the difference between a 'Chudail' and a 'Daayan'. As it turns out from a random web page, a 'Chudail' is an ugly demon that emerges when a woman dies during childbirth and lives in remote areas. A 'Daayan' is a beautiful enchantress that has become one on account of harassment during her lifetime and therefore attacks men and usually lives in urban areas. Whoa, who could ever guess that!!Some of its songs are impressive. The best of those is 'Yaaram' that's performed at the housewarming hosted by Lisa, followed by the eerie 'Lautungi Main' but Punjabi flavored 'Totey Ud Gaye' sounds lame. A few more impressive numbers could have carried 'Ek Thi Daayan' even further. The choice of locations is impressive. The opening scenes are filmed at Gurgaon's "Kingdom of Dreams" which stages an extravaganza of sound and light with impressive transitions, a must see for those visiting the region. The locations for the eerie home and the lift are neat too. The hypnotic background in the psychiatrist's office is an interesting piece of decor and serves as a backdrop to some key scenes. Talking about acting performances, Emraan Hashmi does what is best at. It's amazing that despite such type-cast roles and similar performance in all films, his movies still work well at the Box Office. But, Konkona is the better actor in this film. Kalki and Huma Qureishi also do reasonably well. The Verdict: Unfortunately, not much of the story can be discussed in a review without revealing a bit of the suspense. So, if you want to know what it is, it is better to catch it while it is still in the cinema halls. This is surely not a movie that you could wait till it comes on TV. Although one shouldn't watch it with exalted hopes, since it fizzles out towards the end, you wouldn't regret watching it at all.

souvikmeetszeus It was great to see that Indian cinema has propelled itself forward to a never seen before standards. The idea was so simple, a movie on witchcraft, a subject that has been ably dealt with before in Makdee, but the director really turns the heat ON here; he smashes all previous records and elevates this one to a whole new level. Yes, my friends, if you miss this you are missing out on a lot; after all this is a movie where 'daayan'-s conveniently name themselves Diana (aaaaaarghhh!), typing the 6th floor button thrice in a lift takes you to hell (eeeeeeeeek!), 'loss of innocence' is as flexible as camera angles (aaaaaaaaaahh!) and best of all, I mean this takes the cake by a mile, the aforementioned 'hell' (jahannum, narak) ruled by Shaitan (Satan) has a brand new brown colored leather sofa!! I have rarely confronted so much lameness in such a short span of time, this film really shows what 'modernization' has done to us and how 'technique' has led to the death of 'logic' in Bollywood. Idiots.

Sayan Ganguly There is something wrong with Bollywood these days! Too many good movies with above average concept, and they just throw it all away in the end. After Taalash, Vishwaroopam, Nautanki Saala; Ek Thi Daayan follows the same regime.Now, I am not a fan of the usual horror genre. However, all the controversies hemming in this movie, especially by the Wiccan priestess Ipsita Roy Chakraborty, made me eager to see this one. But alas! All was in huge disappointment. The plot, in its first half was quite different and intelligent. The story follows Magician Bobo The Baffler (Emraan Hashmi) whose hallucinations about his childhood coerce him to seek psychiatric help (Rajatava Dutta). Going through regression hypnosis, a terrifying story about his childhood surfaces, involving a lady named Diana (Konkona Sensharma) who is perceived by the child Bobo as 'Daayan'. The first half consists of a fair share of chills, some of which made audiences jump out of their seats. However, it was the second half where the movie turns to a regular spook fest where not only Daayans, but Pishaach (Male occultist) were introduced, and the sure sign of these ominous creatures were huge dilated pupils (which somehow reminded me of Dobby the elf from Harry Potter series) and as all of them fight in The Matrix style; the stark dark venture goes for a toss.Whereas, the script contains more holes than what Liam Neeson made in the bodies of the antagonists in his 'Taken' series. the movie contains fabulous performances both my Emraan and Konkona. Kalki is simply underutilized and Huma Qureshi fares well. Also, excellent performance by the kid that plays young Bobo.As for the controversies are concerned, the movie does in fact state some facts about 'Daayans' such as: they usually stay underground (below the basement - in hell) but can assume the avatars of a house lizard; their power resides in their long hair tied in plats which wriggles when they gather power ,they have their birthdays on 29th Feb. The daayan can only die if an innocent child or man cuts their long plats and then they disappear as grains of sand, etc. Somehow, this makes me think that they objections of Ipsita Roy Chakraborty might not have been completely out of place.All in all, the film is reduced to an average horror flick which tries to be intellectual at times but only end up being a pseudo intellectual. for those looking for a better concept in this genre, try the movie '404'.