CRITIC'S RATING: 2.5/5
AVG READERS' RATING: 2.2/5
Story: Kakababu goes on a journey with his nephew Santu (Aryann) to find the truth behind the mysterious animal called Yeti and other dark shadows looming large in the Himalayas.
Sunil Gangopadhyay's Pahar Churaye Aatonko (Horror At The Mountain Peak) is said to be the book behind Yeti Obhijaan. The director seems to have taken the original tittle a bit too seriously and made a horror story that tries too hard to be a film in the first place. With its slow pace, ridiculous inconsistencies, tacky sets and clumsy editing, the film falls flat despite its initial buzz and beautiful locations.
Raja Roy Chowdhury aka Kakababu (Prosenjit Chatterjee) gets a humongous tooth of an unknown beast that he believes is living in the mountain caves. Brave adventurer that he is, Kakababu embarks on a journey with his nephew and protégé Santu (Aryann) to find the mysterious animal and other dark shadows looming large in the Himalayas. With incongruous songs scattered all over, the first half of the film moves with little or no progression at all. Many shots are taken, many characters come and disappear, but the film goes nowhere.
With the entry of Jung Bahadur Rana (Jisshu U Sengupta) — an armyman from Nepal — the second half tries to overcome the initial inertia but by then, it’s too late. The second half is riddled with inconsistencies. Officials alight from shiny choppers, one of the villains knocks down a pilot and yet that chopper simply disappears in thin air within a few shots. Suddenly comes Mr Gupta — a senior cop of Nepal police — only to spend most of the time locked up in an igloo-like abode. Even as one grapples with a haywire storyline, we finally get to see the underground caves — the climax setting and the final disaster in the film. From bad costumes to tacky sets and pointless dialogue — everything goes astray in the final lap. The Yeti lives up to its name as the ‘abominable’ snowman, but you’ve got to see that for yourself. A deeply sedated Santu suddenly wakes up and starts sprinting — not a second’s lag there! The conversation involving him, Kakababu and the badman becomes preachy, and sounds pointlessly melodramatic.
Like the script and editing, the actors plod on, fighting bravely through a sagging film. While Prosenjit’s witty winks and zippy attitude falter in the second half, Jisshu’s Nepali diction gets lost among all the loose thread left dangling. Aryann’s karate chops have their share of swag but it’s too little to lift things up.
On the whole, Yeti Obhijaan is disappointing. Pahar Churaye Aatonko is one of the best Kakababu adventures and it is sad to see our childhood nostalgia snuffed out on screen. It fails to thrill, let alone entertain. It is too early to say that Srijit Mukherji has lost his mojo, but his storytelling is a shadow of what it used to be a few years back. It seems that there was a time when he wanted to tell stories, today he wants to helm projects. And the difference shows.
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