Naina

Naina
Directed by	Shripal Morakhia
Produced by	Shripal Morakhia (screenplay), Sagar Pandya, Anjum Rajabali, Rakesh Mehra
Written by	Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Music by	Salim Merchant, Suleman Merchant
Cinematography	C.K. Muralidharan
Editing by	Amitabh Shukla Sanjay Shukla
Distributed by	iDream Productions
Release date(s)	20 May 2005
Running time	103 min.
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Naina is a Hindi horror film released in India in 2005. It stars Urmila Matondkar. It is an uncredited remake of the Hong Kong film The Eye, meaning the original writers received no compensation as opposed to that provided by the American remake The Eye.^[1]

Its release caused controversy in India because its depiction of the protagonist seeing ghosts after receiving a corneal transplant was similar to existing fears in India surrounding corneal transplants and it was feared the film would discourage people from donating corneas or seeking corneal transplants.^[2][3][4]

Film is not to be confused with the Jayaram starrer Naina (2002 film) or Naina (1973 film) starring Shashi Kapoor, as the three films are completely unrelated.

Plot

During the 1986 Surya Grahan, young Naina Shah, while traveling in the backseat of her England-based dad's car, is struck by glass from the shattered windshield during an accident, and loses her eyesight. Her parents do not survive, and she is brought up by her paternal grandmother. Years later, Naina gets a successful cornea transplant, and is able to see. She complains of vision problems, seeing hooded persons, and people dying, which a psychiatrist, Samir Patel, diagnoses as hallucinations. But when Naina reports seeing someone else in her mirror reflection, Sameer decides to investigate who the original cornea actually belonged to. This investigation will lead them to an impoverished village in New Bhuj, Gujarat, where she will find her life endangered by hostile villagers who believe that the donor of her cornea was cursed.

Cast

• Urmila Matondkar ... Naina Shah
• Anuj Sawhney ... Dr. Samir Patel
• Shweta Konnur ... Khemi
• Amardeep Jha ... Somabai
• Kamini Khanna ... Mrs. Shah
• Sulabha Arya ... Parvati Amma
• Morne Botes ... Burn Victim
• Dinesh Lamba ... Rathore
• Rahul Nath ... Ghost
• Anthony Rosato ... Police Officer
• Tom Saville ... Misc

Reception

Naina mostly got mixed reviews from the critcs. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama said, 'NAINA is one of the most imaginative and pulse-pounding horror films to come along in recent times. It leaves the viewer frightened, terrified and petrified. As a horror movie, it packs one genuine scare after another, right till its finale'. The film got a 90% opening in the First week but its collections dropped heavily. At last it was given an 'average' tag.

Urmila Matondkar was especially praised for her performance.

References

1. ^ "Pang Brothers' IMDB page". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659380/. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
2. ^ Chandra, Anjali (2005-05-24). "Seeing is not believing". Times of India (Times of India). http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1120605.cms. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 
3. ^ "NAB also fails to see eye-to-eye with 'Naina'". Afternoon, Bombay, India (Cybernoon). 2005-05-20. http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=news&xfile=May2005_news_standard2133. Retrieved 2007-10-06. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Eye doctors see red over spooky movie.". IOL. 2005-05-21. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1116682607496R362. Retrieved 2007-10-06. 

External links

• Naina at the Internet Movie Database