The movie,404,is thought provoking .It poses the question -- is a paranormal occurrence based on some scientific interrelationship between the deceased and the perceiver or is it just a state of mind that makes one believe so ? Both,the traditional ( the paranormal haunts the tormentor / the occupier of a particular locale as a revenge after death ) and the modern approach ( the perceiver's mind is conditioned by forces beyond his control to believe in the paranormal ) are dealt with.The end result is not conclusive.Both theories can co -exist. A fresher,Abhimanyu ( Rajvvir Aroraa) ,volunteers to occupy room number 404 in his medical institution's hostel,despite it being haunted.The room had remained locked for several months as a former student had committed suicide for being depressed.He had been under the trauma of the scars of vicious ragging by his seniors plus the tag of being a loser.Paranormal activity begins to haunt the new occupant.None believes the occupants version.The question arises how to help the occupant.A professor,Abhimanyu ( Nishikant Kamat) ,opines that the occupant boy is not a victim of the spell cast by the paranormal,but his own state of mind is conditioned by persistent ragging,he is made to believe what others make him believe. The climax remains inconclusive though. On what counts does 404 get a thumbs up? Majority of spooky movies have concentrated on the bhoot-pret kinda approach to give a rationale and create a scare,404 focuses on the modern state of mind approach of the rationalists.The movie is engaging through out.Uniformly good and realistic performances appear on the screen.Nishikant Kamat needs a special mention.This reviewer kept on wondering why the authorities were unable to check ragging despite the law and supreme court's ruling against the barbarity ? The mystery gets revealed in the climax.The professor himself was experimenting on Abhimanyu through a gang of willing senior students who were set up to create fear in the junior to test his hypothesis for a thesis.It's a different matter that the professor himself had been under the spell of her deceased mother.The professor 's assertion that only the insecure believe in God and ghosts is debatable.His belief that the Facebook is a trap to subjugate the thoughts of subjects for commercial purposes is also debatable.At least the beliefs make us give it a thought.404 amply proves that it's possible to deliver good cinema with low budgets and it requires no stars and nach- gaana of the big budget kind.In fact it uneraths new talent. Where does 404 get a thumbs down? The experimentations on the uninitiated in institutions of higher learning can lead to permanent damage on the subjects.The gang of raggers never look like students,being overgrown,they look more of sidekicks of a gangsters than students.The scare element is missing. All in all 404 is a bold and a different attempt on the paranormal genre of films.The movie is destined for critical acclaim.
Review of 404: Error Not Found
