Shillong, March 31: As Gaslight filmmaker Pavan Kirpalani makes an attempt at the unique genre, he has definitely succeeded.
The movie released on OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar movie at 12 am on March 31, which stars Sara Ali Khan, Vikrant Massey, and Chitrangda Singh in the key roles. The movie captures the modern definition of the Gaslight, which is to deceive someone to the point where they begin to doubt their sanity. A title that seems to be the perfect fit for the events that take place in this film.
Meesha, a character played Sara Ali Khan, is a princess and is the main character in Gaslight. She returns home after a long absence in order to repair her relationship with her royal blood father. She is greeted by her stepmother Rukmini (Chitrangda Singh) when she returns, but her father has mysteriously vanished. The family palace experiences a string of strange occurrences that raise the possibility that either something is off or Meesha is seeing hallucinations. The truth is eventually revealed in the movie.
The filmmaker has used the tried-and-true techniques of a Bollywood thriller. As audiences have watched enough thrillers in the past, the director is able to solve the mystery before the climax even starts, even though this makes the movie play it safe with the twists. This undermines the film’s narrative and renders Gaslight predictable.
Gaslight, unfortunately, has poor results. Sara Ali Khan shines in the movie’s conclusion, but her facial expressions seem to be fairly consistent throughout. Given that this is her first role that isn’t chirpy, it seems like she tried to maintain a straight expression to create an intense mood, but it doesn’t always work in her favour in certain locations or in certain scenes.