Exploring the Darkest Depths of Fear

Exploring the Darkest Depths of Fear

Bharat Jain’s debut film 6-5=2 has a couple of plus points  in its Hindi version. This film explores some of the most beautiful locations in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. Young director KS Ashoka had tapped into an entirely new genre for the original Kannada film and it had generated a fair bit of buzz. This led to Bharat Jain actually buying the rights for a Hindi remake that would reach a wider audience.

While horror films based on found footage have been around for a while in Hollywood, it is a style that is still quite new to the  Indian audience. This style apart from its stylistic aspects is also useful in presenting the main adversary of the film,  nature as a brooding and menacing presence. The film opens with instructions revealing  that the film is a video shoot by Siddharth, a young aspiring cinematographer,and takes us back to October 22, 2010.

The story is narrated by Raja, who describes how he and his friends had gone on a trek and the events that transpired there. Raja and his friends Siddarth, BJ, Suhana, Priya and Lulla meet at Mysuru and begin what is to be a fun and exciting journey in the woods.

Unfortunately, Raja falls ill halfway through the trek and decides to halt. The rest of them continue their journey towards the peak. On their return, they encounter strange incidents, which Raja gets to know through the video that is recovered by the forest guards. What twists and turns lie ahead on their trek and what danger befalls them, is what unravels through the plot of 6-5=2.

Bharat Jain has translated this Kannada film into a Bollywood story with a degree of honesty. With the help of cinematographer Sathya Hegde, he has brought the eerieness to life. The actual thrill of 6-5=2 lies in the second half. Along with a brand-new cast that includes Prashantt Guptha, Niharica Raizada, Gaurav Paswalla, Ashrut Jain, Gaurav Kothari and Disha Kapoor, nature is an all-important presence.

You might track some faults, if we get into the detailing of the film. One that is obvious is that the film set in 2010 has  two girls taking a selfie, which was not as popular back then. 

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The New Indian Express
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