Post the much-acclaimed Lapachhapi (2016), director Vishal Furia returns with another horror drama, Bali, yet again pointing towards an alarming social curse related to the medical profession. The film revolves around a hospital in an old colonial-era building and has kids playing a key role in the script, just like we witnessed in Vishal’s Lapachhapi, also remade as Chhori in Hindi.
Focusing on a father-son relationship, the film begins with a young kid Mandar (Samarth Jadhav) being taken to the hospital after fainting during his cricket match practice one fine morning. His father Shrikant (Swapnil Joshi) meets the doctors, who admit him for two days to get him examined. During his stay, Mandar meets another kid, Bhaskar (Abhishek Bachankar) fighting cancer, and that’s from where the mysterious events begin, related to an old section of the hospital, locked for many years. Some suspicious happenings, including the strange behaviour of the doctors and attendants, disturb the father and he has to enquire further to save his ailing child.
The basic premise of Bali remains interesting throughout but along with becoming predictable too soon in its short duration of just 103 minutes. That is the reason the final revelation doesn’t seem to be shocking enough for a horror film. On the cost of repeating himself, Vishal again comes up with jump scares featuring the kids and the scary spirit, as seen in his Lapachhapi/Chhori. But this time, they are very few and the emphasis remains upon the social message coming as a disappointment. Plus, the entire setup and execution continuously give you the feel of a low-budget venture, that wasn’t the case in Lapachhapi because of the new locations. Having said that, the culmination does make you think about how the noble profession of a doctor can ruin not one but several lives in the family when they fool their patients, forgetting their oath and professional ethics.
With all the potential of making a chilling horror film, Bali doesn’t exploit its basic plot as required and thus remains an average predictable watch, ruining the expectations. The saving grace is its fairly engaging pace, short duration, and sincere performances by Swapnil Joshi, Pooja Sawant, and the kids.
In all, Bali suffers as it deliberately tries to be a socially relevant film, along with being a horror flick. It certainly has been made by a talented team, but a project doesn’t need to be a message-oriented one, each and every time, especially when you are making a horror film.
Rating : 2.5 / 5
(Streaming at Amazon Prime)
Bobby Sing
(bobbytalkscinema.com)
NOTE : The article was first published in THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Newspaper (Mumbai Edition) on 21st December 2021.
