Gauri the Unborn (2007)

Gauri the Unborn is a Bollywood Horror Movie that hit theaters in 2007. In India, the concept of having a child plays a very important role. In fact, its more important than the concept of marriage. Of course, because of traditions, marriage comes before children, so we usually hear about weddings, but the rider is that a child should be on the way by the year end.

The importance of children in the Indian family should definitely inspire Movie makers. Until the nineties, child characters in Bollywood movies didn’t have a big role to play. They were losing their parents and living as orphans, or were seperated from their siblings.

Abortions became a thing to talk about in Bollywood Horror movies at a much later stage. The concept of the illegitimate child has been around since a very long while. If you have been reading my articles, you will know that Gehrayee touched on the concept of an illegitimate child. This 2007 movie is one of the very few that talk about this concept. Here’s what Gauri the Unborn is all about.

Gauri the Unborn Synopsis

A young couple, Deepu and Roshni are the proud parents of a young girl, Shivani.  As Shivani grows, she starts having supernatural experiences. Deepu and Roshni think that they should take a break and they decide to go to Mauritius. However, Shivani begins acting strangely and wants to go to their old house. When the three reach there, Deepu, Roshni and Shivani face more supernatural experiences.

Finally, Shivani has a full on supernatural experience and that’s when the secret is revealed. Years ago, Deepu and Roshni had aborted their child because they thought that they were not ready for a child.They had earlier planned that their child’s name would be Gauri.  Because of this, they fight with Deepu’s father and leave the house that they lived in.

Deepu, Roshni and Shivani spend time in the old house  and Gauri’s spirit becomes more and more powerful. Finally, the  parents have to take  drastic step to ensure that Gauri leaves them forever and ever.

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Review

Gauri the Unborn is not your typical masaledaar Bollywood horror movie. the director relies on CGI rather than prosthetics to show Gauri’s spirit. Also, this is one of those rare movies that doesn’t show a zombie or any human form for the spirit. All we see is a blue light like figure that depicts Gauri.

However, Gauri the Unborn fails to leave a mark on the audiences. The main reason is the weak screenplay. The concept of aborting a child should be a very emotional one for the would be parents. Only a criminal would be so casual about taking a decision to abort a child.

The movie lacks the drama and the tempo that needed to show young parents abort their child. Secondly, the characterisation is very weak. We know very little abut Deepu and Roshni. And whatever we know, we can’t agree that this is a family that wants to abort.

For example, they live in a palatial bungalow, and Deepu’s doting father throws a party when he finds out that he’s about to become a grandfather. And to top that, Deepu is an architect – that aspect is tom-tommed from almost the first scene. Why would an architect be forced to abort his child in the 2000s is beyond comprehension.

Any Indian family would understand the concept right off the bat. A young woman who’d be aborting her first born will be scarred for life. The same goes for the father. In this movie, that entire story arc gets just one phone call scene, and that too in a flashback.

This is probably the cleanest Bollywood horror movie I have seen after Bhoot. There’s no sleaze, no titillation and just a sprinkle of some sensuality. Unfortunately, for a mainstream Bollywood horror movie, this is a requisite.

With no character creation, no masala and very little spook to offer, Gauri The Unborn is one of the weakest Bollywood horror movies out there. When it comes to performances, Atul Kulkarni, Anupam Kher and Rituparna Sengupta do a good job of bringing their characters to life.

Rushita Pandya, the young girl who plays the possessed girl does a good job in the intense sequences, but comes across a little clueless in the initial scenes, where the possession is just beginning. She doesn’t have the intensity of a Baby Shwati in Veerana.