Ek Thi Daayan

Ek Thi Daayan
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kannan Iyer
Written by	Mukul Sharma Vishal Bhardwaj
Based on	Mobius Trips by Mukul Sharma
Produced by	Ekta Kapoor Shobha Kapoor Vishal Bhardwaj Rekha Bhardwaj
Starring	Emraan Hashmi Huma Qureshi Konkona Sen Sharma Kalki Koechlin
Cinematography	Saurabh Goswami
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Songs: Vishal Bhardwaj Score: Clinton Cerejo
Production companies	ALT Entertainment VB Pictures
Distributed by	Balaji Motion Pictures
Release date	19 April 2013 (2013-04-19)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹24–26 crore[1][2]
Box office	₹40.25 crore[2]

Ek Thi Daayan (transl. Once there was a witch) is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language supernatural thriller film directed by Kannan Iyer, adapted from the short story Mobius Trips by Mukul Sharma.^[3] The film stars Emraan Hashmi, Huma Qureshi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kalki Koechlin.^[4] The film is co-produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Vishal Bhardwaj and Rekha Bhardwaj. It was released on 19 April 2013 to positive reviews from critics and decent box-office collections.^[5]

Konkona Sen Sharma received critical acclaim for her performance and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 59th Filmfare Awards.^[6]

Plot[]

Bejoy Charan Mathur also known as Bobo is India's top magician. But unknown to everyone, his life is falling apart. Hallucinations about his dead little sister Misha threaten his sanity. He is drawn to his old vacant family apartment, where he one day opens the lid of a treasure chest, only to see a vision of Misha dead inside. He finally seeks psychiatric help in the form of the odd Dr. Palit, who puts him under regression hypnosis to go back to the past, when Bobo was 11 and Misha 6.

A terrifying childhood story surfaces: Bobo and Misha live with their single father in the apartment. Bobo reads a book of witchcraft from which he discovers the number 666 and uses it to travel on the elevator to an unlisted floor at the bottom of the building, which he tells Misha is the entry to hell. According to Bobo, each building has its own hell, where the "bad people" of the building are consigned for eternity once they are dead. A woman named Diana moves in and Bobo is convinced that she is a witch and surfaced following his and Misha's trip on the elevator.

Diana charms Bobo's father and marries him. Bobo learns that the source of a daayan's power is her plait. On Diana's birthday, during the night of the red moon, she sacrifices Misha in order to restore her dark powers. Bobo and his father discover Misha dead in the trunk and a now-undisguised Diana hovering over her body. Diana kills Bobo's father with her ear-piercing screams. As she performs the rest of her ritual, the distraught Bobo finds his father's dagger and cuts off Diana's plait, destroying her source of power. Diana begins to crumble into dust but says she shall return for Bobo.

Dr. Palit dismisses Bobo's visions as fantasy. Bobo and Tamara marry and adopt ten-year-old Zubin. Everything goes well till the irresistible Lisa Dutt enters their lives during a magic show. Everyone loves her but Bobo suspects that the daayan is back. Lisa also buys his old apartment, adding to his suspicion. During Lisa's housewarming party, Tamara falls off the balcony and is hospitalized. Lisa visits but Bobo walks in and angrily tells her to get out when he finds her tinkering with the IV bag. Afraid for his family, he calls Dr. Palit for help.

Dr. Palit finds out something disturbing and calls Bobo but the daayan appears as Diana and kills him. Bobo finds Dr. Palit dead and sees a paper in his hand, on which Zubin's name is written. He looks for Zubin everywhere but finds him missing. He then rushes back to the old apartment and takes the elevator to hell.

There, he finds Zubin lying on an altar and the daayan ready to sacrifice his son's life to sustain her powers. Bobo tries to save Zubin but encounters Tamara. In a twist, it is revealed that Tamara is the daayan, not Lisa. Diana appears and tells him that he himself is a Pishacha as not just anyone merely push buttons in an elevator and find hell. Tamara tells him that it took her 20 years to be reborn and she will not let him kill her again, and knocks him unconscious.

Bobo wakes up and remembers the book, where he read that a Pishacha can regain his strength as it is the night of the red moon. With his acquired powers, he kills Tamara and returns his powers to Satan. The daayan, now appearing as Diana, reveals that only the innocent can kill a daayan and since Bobo killed her once before, he is no longer innocent. The two fight again until Bobo kicks the sacrificial dagger to Zubin. Zubin is able to cut off Diana's plait but the crumbling daayan once again promises that she will return.

In the end, Bobo meets Lisa and she asks him why he was so aggressive toward her in the beginning. Bobo tells her he thought she was a witch.

Cast[]

• Emraan Hashmi as Bejoy Charan Mathur - Magician Bobo
• Huma Qureshi as Tamara
• Konkona Sen Sharma as Diana Daayan
• Kalki Koechlin as Lisa Dutt
• Pawan Malhotra as Mr. Mathur (Bobo's Dad)
• Rajatava Dutta as Dr. Ranjan Palit (Bobo's Psychiatrist)
• Bhavesh Balchandani as Zubin
• Sara Arjun as Misha
• Vikas Shrivastav as Police Inspector
• Shireena Sambyal as Anna
• Vishesh Tiwari as Young Bobo

Production[]

The film was shot at Filmcity. According to director Kannan Iyer, leopards entered the sets during shooting. The uninvited guest was later apparently shooed away.^[7]

CGI VFX for the film has been done by Prana Studios Mumbai.

Marketing[]

Hasmi and Qureshi during the promotions of the film.

The unique marketing campaign was carried out by the producer Ekta Kapoor for the promotion of this film. She produced a mini-series aired on the channel Life OK titled Ek Thhi Naayka starring the top actress of Indian Television from her path-breaking shows, including Smriti Irani, Sakshi Tanwar, Shweta Tiwari, Aamna Shariff, Mouli Ganguly, Ankita Lokhande, Kritika Kamra and Pooja Gaur.^[8]

Soundtrack[]

The music of Ek Thi Daayan was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, with lyrics written by Gulzar.^[9] The background score was composed by Clinton Cerejo. Musicperk.com rated the album 7/10 quoting "This album does impress in parts but fails to make a lasting impression."^[10]

Release and reception[]

Critical reception[]

The film received a mainly positive response with praise particularly for Konkona Sen Sharma, as well as Huma Qureshi and Kalki Koechlin. At reviewbol.com, it got 3/5 Average Critic Review Score from all sites.^[11] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave Ek Thi Daayan 4.3 stars out of 5 and called it "An imaginative and appealing supernatural thriller".^[12] Meena Iyer of The Times of India awarded it 3.5 out of 5 while remarking "Woven beautifully between the world of magic, occult and suspense, Ek Thi Daayan, makes for compulsive viewing, providing some spine-chilling thrills at short gaps".^[13] Raja Sen of Rediff gave it 3 out of 5 star, noting,"Ek Thi Daayan isn't the scariest of horror films. It is, though, smartly crafted, highly original in its approach and a strikingly ambitious effort for the genre".^[14] Mansha Rastogi of Nowrunning rated it 2.5 out of 5,feels,"Ek Thi Daayan deserves full marks for its unblemished and watertight first half. The second however is a total waste".^[15]

Box office[]

Ek Thi Daayan opened at around 30-40% occupancy with better opening in multiplexes rather than single screens^[16] where it collected around ₹6.24 crore (US$870,000) on its first day.^[17] The film did not show any growth further and netted around ₹15.5 crore (US$2.2 million) over the weekend.^[18] Despite low growth over the weekend, the film came out with good total of around ₹ 25 crore in its first week.^[19] Ek This Daayan grossed over ₹40.25 crore (US$5.6 million) during its entire theatrical run.^[2]

References[]

External links[]

• Ek Thi Daayan at Bollywood Hungama
• Ek Thi Daayan at IMDb