Bollywood Preview Raaz 3: Scared us away already

Hours before the film releases and a day before the reviews appear, here’s what you can expect from this week’s release.

Film: Raaz 3
Cast: Bipasha Basu (last seen in Jodi Breakers), Emraan Hashmi (last seen in Shanghai), Esha Gupta (last seen in Jannat 2) and Jacqueline Fernandez (last seen in Housefull 2)
Storyline: A psychotic superstar actress has trouble accepting her advancing age and eventual dethroning. So to make sure that she stays on top, she uses kala jaadu (black magic) to torture her younger, perkier competitor out of the glamour industry.

Director:
Vikram Bhatt (last directed Dangerous Ishq; 2006).There was a lot of hype around his last 3D film, which was supposed to mark Karisma Kapoor’s comeback to Bollywood. The film flopped eventually. There’s quite a lot of hype around Raaz 3 too.

Music:
Jeet Ganguly, Mithoon and Rashid.The soundtrack has failed to make a mark and has received a majority of negative reviews. Expecting great music from a Bhatt film seems like asking for a lot now.

Controversies/stunts:
A few run-of-the-mill rumours did the rounds that Esha Gupta was upset with the makers as her face was missing from the poster. Obviously, this was not a tutored move and doesn’t look like a plug for this film.

Marketing/hype:
The cast travelled around the country before heading to Dubai to promote it, while Bipasha tweeted furiously, earning even more brownie points.

Our assessment:
Raaz 2, which was directed by Mohit Suri, was praised for the way it looked. The special effects in this one look tacky and the story feels 10 years old; seems like this one might nip the franchise in the third for good.

For the final verdict, look out for Sarit Ray’s review tomorrow on the Reviews page in the Hindustan Times