Uriah43 A group of college students are having a good time in the woods playing "Spin the bottle". When the bottle points at a beautiful woman named "Nisha" (Mink Singh) she playfully runs off rather than kiss the young man (Ali Asghar) she is supposed to. While alone and in the dark she is possessed by an evil spirit and then unexpectedly attacks Ali before finally being confined in a mental hospital. She dies not long afterward but the evil spirit isn't quite through. Meanwhile, a young man named "Aditya Dhanraj" (Dino Morea) and his gorgeous wife "Sanjana Dhanraj" (Bipasha Basu) are having marital problems and decide to take a vacation. Unfortunately, their destination is the same place where the evil spirit possessed and killed Nisha. And it is waiting for them. At any rate, rather than giving away any of the mysteries in this film and spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that I really enjoyed this movie. It has a good plot and some excellent musical scores. Likewise, Bipasha Basu not only looked nice but she put on a fine performance as well. That said, I highly recommend this film for those who enjoy a decent horror movie or Bollywood films in general.

Peter Young Raaz is a very average film in terms of film-making. It's a very funny mixture of thriller and romance. While films like Bhoot use music which contributes to the film's genre perfectly, the songs in Raaz are very melodious and romantic, which makes them odd and unsuitable for a thriller like Raaz. Anyway, if the film had been made as a complete thriller, it would probably have not succeeded commercially as expected by the producers. Generally, thrillers and horror films often display magical realism to make it more convincing and scaring (again, Bhoot), and the acting is natural for the same purpose, but this film has far too many unrealistic sequences, over-the-top dialogues and exaggerated acting (except for Bipasha) even in very ordinary and simple scenes which are not part of the suspense. This does not mean though the effect was damaged completely, because you wouldn't really expect to see a realistic film with such a story. Raaz therefore does work as a thriller most of the time. Dino Morea does not make a great impact. This is not really a performance-driven role, though he is restrained throughout and looks suitable for the role. The film has one main highlight for me, and it's Bipasha Basu who carries the film on her own shoulders. Although these were still the days when she had not yet become a national sex symbol, this girl had extremely expressive eyes and graceful mannerisms. She did not perform brilliantly, nor did she look as stunningly beautiful as she looks today, but she did perform well and looked attractive and beautiful. And the dubbing artist... she did a fabulous job for her. And speaking of dubbing, yes, the film secretly used professional dubbing for several actors, including the main lead, which is good because from what I know the starring actors were yet to work on their voices and diction at that point of time. And though it does make wonders, as the performances seem to be much more convincing, the dubbing at several points faces foul-ups. Several scenes had a noticeable lack of compatibility between the voice over and the facial expressions, which was quite annoying. Anyway, Raaz may not be a great film, but it is a decent entertainer, and as a time-pass flick it does the required. It may have had better results had it been directed by someone like Ram Gopal Varma, but it should be worthy of a one-time watch.

moviefreakazoid If you really want to watch this movie at its optimum, you have to follow certain guidelines. Watch late at night. Sit alone or maybe with someone ;) Make sure the house is real quite.To enjoy a movie as the director intended, an ambiance must be created, such as that created on a late night showing at the cinema. With that in mind, here's my view.This movie was shown recently on a British T.V. channel late at night. I had heard good buzz about it when it was released, I love the soundtrack and so I went in open-minded.However with that in mind, I didn't enjoy the movie too much.As you will know, this is a horror flick with that psychological element thrown in along with some of the Hindi trimmings, thrown in for extra measure. The plot of What Lies Beneath is regurgitated and slightly repackaged for the audience.I enjoyed the opening sequences, although clichéd to an extent, they were interesting. I think the introduction of Bipashu Basu (B.B) and Dino Morea (D.M) added weaknesses to the story. B.B isn't one of the strongest actresses. D.M didn't really have much to do. The introduction set the scene well, however the movement from the introduction to the main characters was shoddy, it wasn't fulfilling. As the story progresses, the scare factor does increase, however you feel as if you can predict the next scene. Don't get me wrong, this was an enjoyable movie, not something that makes you look at the clock every 5 minutes. The director does help produce some tension in some of the scenes-you know those kinds of scenes even when you know something bad is going to happen, and you're chewing on your nails! The music scenes do fit in well; the songs are really good, although I would say the opening number is pretty weak. Although the movie may be a treat for those viewers who have not seen What Lies Beneath, this movie offers nothing more than an above the average retelling. The producers could have made something more of this film, there is great potential in the storyline. The cgi doesn't help at all, when used. It only helps create that element of the horror being false.A few adjustments to the story would have helped make a truly great movie. However the final product is a Hollywood rip-off, packaged for a different audience. Although members of the target audience may enjoy the movie, this does no favours for boosting the opinion held by many people of the lack of originality of Hindi films.My opinion- Not a total waste of time, the movie has its plus points which will keep you engrossed. However if you are looking for something original on the cinematic plateau, you won't find it here. My rating 6/10

Ace_of_Hearts All these rave reviews are kind of surprising, because ...surprise... it's not such a good movie. Frankly, if you read between the lines, the only reason this movie is receiving so many rave reviews, is because it is thought to be one (or at least a few) of a kind. Because this 'Raaz' is supposed to be a horror movie. This fact alone is kind of sad, because the corrollary is that if Bollywood came up with a flick that featured full nudity, this would also have to be a hit regardless of the story, just because it was one of a kind.The story is about a married couple, Sanjana and Aditya, on the brink of divorce. To try to mend their marriage they decide to go to the place they got together. But guess what, the house is haunted. By whom? And why? Those are pretty much the two questions it revolves around.Having seen quite a few Hollywood horror movies and having seen 'What lies beneath' I knew what the story was about before we even reached intermission. *POSSIBLE SPOILER* The entire movie Sanjana is haunted by a ghost who tries to scare her with wind (yes, you read that right, wind), falling spades, closing doors and windows and ofcourse very fake blood. In one sequence the chandelier in the house starts bleading. Naturally, just having blood trickle down the chandelier would have added to the creep factor, so the director decided on a (very fake) blood shower instead. What Hollywood has done to blowing things up, this movie has done to blood.What I also found quite annoying was the lack of consistency and logical thinking. *VERY BIG SPOILER* At one point the ghost takes possession of a man's body. A man who is dead. When the man is crushed between a tree and a car, the ghost seems to lose consciousness?! How is this possible? If a ghost can possess a dead body, surely it can possess a crushed dead body. And if the ghost can possess a dead body, why doesn't she just take control of her own body which has just been dug up. Or of the unconscious body of the best friend of the lead. Or even of the lead herself. As with all horrors, this one is also rife with inconsistencies.This all makes it seem that I hated the movie. Well, I didn't. Bipasha Basu is as always extremely fetching. And Dino also delivers quite a performance. Plus you have to admire Bollywood tackling issues like adultery. *SPOILER* Though, the ending of Sanjana taking Aditya back after not only cheating on her but solely being responsible for a ghost trying to whack her, was very weak. It would have been much better if they would have let her dump his ass.If you wanna be scared out of your wits watching a horror movie, this ain't it. You'll be better off turning to Hollywood for movies like Child's Play, Resident Evil or even What Lies Beneath. If you just wanna enjoy yourself for 2+ hours, this will definitely do the trick.**/5 stars