‘Pret Boys’: Cast & Crew
Director: Nisheeth N Neelkanth
Cast: Ritik Ghanshani, Aanchal Munjal, Shardul Pandit, Ahan Nirban
Available On: Amazon MiniTV
Duration: 10 Episodes, 14-22 Minutes Each
‘Pret Boys’: Story
Prem, Tatsat, and Rajat (Ritik Ghanshani, Shardul Pandit, Ahan Nirban) launch a unique start-up focused on smashing ghosts. They get another ghost lover like them when they encounter Eisha (Aanchal Munjal). As the crew battles various ghosts, they find themselves on a collision course with the dark world. Will their start-up of catching ghosts ever get funding? Will they ever be able to become a successful ghost-catching company? Will they be able to save their clients from ghosts? Or will they fail miserably? Well, for all that, you’ll have to watch ‘Pret Boys’.
‘Pret Boys’: Performances
Shardul Pandit was spot on. He was the right amount of funny for a slapstick and his physical comedy and sense of space and timing were absolutely brilliant. It’s a shame that we have seen Shardul Pandit in pretty much serious roles before. This is quite a revelation to see him in an absolutely different space, and he did showcase his prowess in comedy with ‘Pret Boys’. How ever the show fares, Shardul Pandit should be getting a lot more bigger roles, especially in the space of physical comedy. His antics and voice modulations are kickass. He draws all the attention towards himself, and whenever he is missing from the screens, you’re actually missing seeing him and just waiting for him to be back.
None of the other three – Aanchal Munjal, Ritik Ghanshani, Ahan Nirban – were able to create an impact that you’ll want to remember. Aanchal, in her ‘I see dead people’ character made the role too intense. She should have made the character more fun with either some more comic punches or her antics or her body language. Sadly, that was missing completely. Nothing too special from either Ritik Ghanshani or Ahan Nirban to even warrant a mention.
‘Pret Boys’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects
Shivam Sharma’s writing has nothing to offer. He tries to bring back the kind of horror films which were prevalent in B-movies in the 1970s-1990s. Sadly, he fails miserably. Also, he tries to reinvigorate the slapstick comedy genre of the mid-2000s. Sadly, he fails miserably even in this. The story is old and dilapidated and probably 2 or 3 years olds might get scared on those possible jump scares. Others can see them coming from a mile away. To add to that, the backstories (or whatever little of them is shown) are pathetic. Which HR manager hires his own girlfriend to the office, and fires her a few days later saying ‘You are weird’?
Nisheeth N Neelkanth’s direction is amateurish, to say the least. There is no novelty in the way the entire story has been narrated onscreen. It could have been a decent enough horror comedy, but it became a slapstick comedy out of nowhere. The horror elements were so less and insignificant that it felt like a bag of jump scares put together. Probably it would have made audiences in the 1990s feel scared, but for now, it ended up being a massive pile of garbage. Look at the dolls used in the ‘Anabelle’ series and compare them to the doll used in ‘Pret Boys’ and you’ll end up laughing.
Kashan Shahid’s cinematography is just too horrid to even worth a mention. The camerawork seems so low-budget that it doesn’t even get a single scare out of the audience. As the entirety of the show lies in night sequences, it would have been better to light up the screens with things other than big flashy halogen lights. With so much light all over, even ghosts would feel afraid to come out. After all, they’re the beings of the dark.
Vinay Malu and Nitesh Tank’s editing couldn’t do much. Rather than dragging on the pain for 10 episodes of varying time limits, they could have chopped a few episodes and wrapped it up in 6 episodes and made the lengths a bit more of the individual episodes. Also, there are quite a few scenes where you’re waiting for a jump scare, and you’re waiting for so long that you actually end up missing that fear in your heart.
Sunny Subramanian’s music is the only decent thing about ‘Pret Boys’ after Shardul Pandit. The background score does manage to give you a bit of the chill. But had the story and direction been more supportive, then the thrills would have been felt much better.
‘Pret Boys’: Can Kids Watch It?
Yes
Outlook’s Verdict
‘Pret Boys’ is juvenile and childish, to say the least. More than being a horror comedy it veers towards being a ‘Housefull’ sort of slapstick comedy. It leaves you a rather unpleasant aftertaste. If you’re looking for a horror comedy, Avoid this. I am going with 1 star.
