Woodstock Villa...where the truth lies

It was hard for me to recall the name of this film even to fill the Title of this post. That should sum up in a nut-shell my opinion about this film I just saw. Before I start with what it was actually, let me begin with what was supposed to be.

I googled for the review and got this as one of the top search results - REVIEW FROM NOW RUNNING.COM . According to this,

"In the tradition of film noir, that is guaranteed to shock, thrill and surprise. A compelling film from director Hansal Mehta about swiftly changing moralities in today's world.
After a successful businessman's stunning wife disappears, hostile and taunting ransom demands follow. As the true nature of stakes for the captor and his captives unfold, Woodstock Villa lithely transforms from a precision neo noir into a chilling and shocking thriller, and ultimately into a vivid, invigorating, icy masterpiece of murder, mystery and suspense.
Neither pleading eyes nor bound wrists nor a shallow grave are what they seem, as a moment of relief is suddenly transformed into a web of deceit, and a moment of truth is followed by a sudden web of lies. Unsettling, thrilling, hallucinatory, suspenseful and erotic, Woodstock Villa is contemporary entertainment that breaks new ground with every twist".

I am surprised with amount of positive perspective , the reviewer has seen this film (if he has seen it at all). In any case people are entitled to their individual opinions and tastes. So I shall let the matter rest there.

For me however, this film is a disaster in all aspects. To name a few obvious ones - lack of a proper story, the sequence of events (which seems to kill the suspense/thrill that you would expect in a thriller) and the untimely songs. I personally did not like the photography also, for I felt the photographer was trying to focus from all possible weird angles. However, this is very subjective and a little benefit of doubt could be given to the photographer. Amidst all this, to test our patience, there are some totally mushy dialogs which would have been best placed in the 1970s. And before I forget, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the person who came up with the TITLE for this film (sarcastic ofcourse). The person has successfully captured the essence of the film in these two words which comprehensively covers the whole plot. Well on a serious note, the house figures only a couple of times in this film and I would say is one of the most insignificant things out there. As insignificant as the role of Mr Gulshan Grover and his buddies. A title which stands for deception/cheat would have been more apt, for everybody seems to be cheating everybody here.

Overall, it was 2 hours well-wasted (actually 12 man hours of productivity) and not just that it was a whopping 960 bucks from 6 of us. All in all a forgettable time. I am pretty sure, none of us were shocked, thrilled or even slightly surprised about any twist in this film (if there was any).

Hoping to make up for the loss by soon catching up with a nice movie...