Vikram Bhatta is comfortable in low budget thrillers, usually movies that he has ripped off from Hollywood and made into semi-decent bollywood flicks, some better than others, some pretty dreadful. Whilst Vikram Bhatt must have a special penchant for this particular genre, it is mindblowingly obvious that something went dreadfully wrong with Inteha, a vacuous and banal film which fails to thrill on any level.

We are introduced to Nandini (Vidya Mallavde) who runs a radio programme and has a boyfriend in the wings. However, she is later introduced by an ailing father to her sister that she has never met, Tina (Nauheed Cyrusi). It transpires that the father had a mistress on the side for all the time he had been married to Tina’s mother. Mahesh Bhatt’s hangover from his own personal lineal angst. Leaving the care to Nandini, Pop kicks the bucket and brat Tina is left at elder sister’s mercy. Elder sis takes her role very seriously, having forsaken her boyfriend for her sister and assumed the role of patriach of the house. Tina of course resents this immensely as would anyone, give the circumstances. However, what flows from Nandini is pure love for her sibling.

Had the film followed a darker path, that of sibling rivalry, one may have found the subject marginally interesting but its very soon that one realises that one is being subjected to the usual is-he-or-is-he-not-bad stranger story with the arrival of Ranbir (Ashmit Patel). Bhatt refuses to elaborate and we get thrown into a story of apparent obsession between Ranbir and Tina but how and when, it hardly seems to make a difference. The director just zooms through the proceedings which are meant to set up the mainstay of the film….Nandini’s mistrust of the stranger. Oh yes, it would have been so much ,ore interesting had nandini fostered desires for the stranger as well but Nandini is so busy playing mother hen, she cannot see any attraction. Frankly, I couldn’t see the attraction either because our protagonist seems badly in need of razors and bath for much of the film.

On one occasion, Tina and Nandini witness Ranbir giving a thief a sever beating. This turns Nandini into the angel out to protect her bratty sibling and Tina into a defiant and outrageously stupid sister, who defies her elder sister to indulge her love with Ranbir. Nandini now sets out to find out about the identity of the Ranbir. Realising that he is in danger of being “discovered”, in a hilariously ridiculously scene, Ranbir tell Tina that he has to the loo, slips out the back, drives to a distant hotel, murders a man, slips back again and turns up at the table as if it was a big bout of severe constipation! The battle is on between Ranbir and Nandini. Will she be able to prove that he is a nutter or will he succeed in his evil designs whatever they may be.
Inteha is a pretty awful film and the moment you see the Vikram Bhatt-Mahesh Bhatt combination, you wonder which film he has ripped off this time. This must be some B Hollywood thriller, with a fair similarity to the Mark Wahlberg film “Fear”. Not once do you ever believe that Ranbir is not an evil psychotic murderer even though you may not know the reasons behind it. Furthermore, Vikram Bhatt reveals this to his audience early on in the proceedings which then leaves the viewer bored and quite uninterested in the proceedings. His revelation is not to reveal a further plot development or to take the viewer by surprise, simply a bad piece of scripting by Mahesh Bhatt.

The holes in the script are huge and sometimes laughable, especially Ranbir’s man Friday who walks around like the Grim Reaper, hood and Hook in hand. The scene with the caretaker of Ranbir's earlier house is beyond farcical and almost an insult to the audience. Vikram Bhatt clearly did this film as a favour and did not bother to make it palatable to anyone.

Ashmit Patel gives an ordinary account of himself, trying to mould himself into the menacing heroes who have delved into negative roles in the past and making not juch of an impression. It’s a one dimensional role and does not do much for him. Nauheed Cyrusi is not bad. Vidya Mallvade has the main role and leaves a mark despite being a thoroughly unbelievable character. The songs are DULL. Pretty dire film really. Give me the 80’s Raj Babbar –Reena Roy film of the same name any day!!!!