'Bloody Ishq' On Disney+ Hotstar Movie Review: Vikram Bhatt's Latest Horror Fails On All Fronts

From starting as a child actor in ‘Balika Vadhu’ to rising to become one of the most sought-after talents in the South film industry, Avika Gor has come a long way. Recently, it was announced that she would be joining the Bhatt camp to star in a horror flick with Vardhan Puri. The news left her fans excited as this genre was something they had never seen her in. After much anticipation, the movie was released on Disney+ Hotstar recently. In case you are planning to watch this Vikram Bhatt directorial over the weekend, then here’s all that you need to know about ‘Bloody Ishq.’

‘Bloody Ishq’: Story

The movie opens with Neha (played by Avika Gor) in a hospital in Sweden. She drowned in a lake and has finally recovered after two years. However, the impact of the accident was so much that she lost her memory. As she leaves the hospital with her husband Romesh (played by Vardhan Puri), she tries to understand what happened to her. She reaches their lavish mansion on a secluded Scottish Island. However, the moment she steps in, she gets an eerie feeling in the house.

As the days progress, she notices some paranormal activities in the house. She opens up about them to her Romesh who tells her it’s all in her head. But Neha is determined to understand what had happened to her. As she pieces the clues, she finds out that the house is haunted and possesses as many secrets as her husband. The movie revolves around how Neha gets rid of the evil spirit and also manages to find herself in the process.

‘Bloody Ishq’: Performances

Avika Gor is the lead actress in this film. She has a bigger role to play than the hero in this horror flick. As Neha, the actor looks clueless. Her performance is all over the place. She looks confused, horrified, and even agitated, but never does she look confident in the role that she is playing. Her dialogue delivery is off and even her screen presence is nothing that can salvage her poor performance. The only thing that works in her favour is that she is dressed in Parisian-inspired outfits that only make her look good on the screen.

If you thought Gor gave a terrible performance, then you should take a look at Vardhan Puri’s performance as Romesh. Every time he addressed Neha as ‘Baby’, it sounded utterly fake. He was unable to get into the skin of the character. He could not make us feel sorry or feel any other emotion for his character. Even when he is attacked by the spirit, he is unable to bring out the pain and the hurt that he must have felt.

As Kimaya Tandon, Jennifer Piccinato looked like the classic Bhatt camp villain. She had all the traits of the classic femme fatale that we see in all Bhatt movies. But that was just about it. Even her performance fell flat on its face and no matter how much Vikram Bhatt tried to make her look sexy and seductive, it just didn’t work.

‘Bloody Ishq’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

The movie is extremely badly shot, period. There are hardly any scenes that have been shot in real locations. The film depends heavily on CGI and VFX and green screen. The film had an interesting premise. The movie was set on a remote island in Scotland. This has the potential to make for a gripping horror movie like ‘Raaz’. But the overuse of CGI simply pulled the story down. Additionally, the CGI was executed so badly that you could make it out in every frame in the entirety of the film.

The script of the movie was terrible. The potential was a squandered opportunity. The dialogues felt like they were straight out of a daily soap in the late 90s or early 2000s. The characters were poorly drawn out. We know nothing about Neha except that she has lost her memory and that she can play the piano. We have no idea about what she studied in Scotland, where her parents are, or even how long she has been married to Romesh. All minute details that help the audience to sketch out a character have been conveniently forgotten. We don’t even know what Romesh or his father did that they could afford a mansion on a Scottish island.

The jump scares were just as bad as they could be. It was worse than anything we have seen in horror films in the past 10 years. I thought we had moved past the era where spirits had neon green eyes and they burst out in blue flames, but Bhatt takes us back to that infamous era. After a while, the jump scares are predictable and not even scary. The music, on the other hand, does no justice to the story. Even if there was no music, the movie would have been as bad.

‘Bloody Ishq’: Cast & Crew

Director: Vikram Bhatt

Writer: Mahesh Bhatt, Suhrita Das

Cast: Avika Gor, Vardhan Puri, Jeniffer Piccinato, Rahul Dev, Coral Bhamra, Shyam Kishore

Available On: Disney+ Hotstar

Duration: 2 hours 18 minutes

Languages: Hindi

‘Bloody Ishq’: Can Kids Watch It?

No, the movie includes a few intimate scenes and jump scares which can be sensitive to young viewers.

Outlook’s Verdict

When you look at Vikram Bhatt’s filmography, you know that he has a style where he mixes erotica and horror to make a genre that is entirely his own. He is the man behind hits like ‘Kasoor’, ‘Raaz’, and ‘1920.’ I expected something similar from ‘Bloody Ishq’ but this was a total letdown. For someone who is actually scared of horror movies, this film made me yawn and even hit the skip button multiple times. There was no standout moment in the entirety of its runtime. The movie felt like Bhatt made this project without any dedication. It’s flat and dull and something that you can skip and save yourself a headache. I am going with 1 star.