Pavan Kirpalani’s mystery-thriller draws you into its world with eerie silence and interesting jump scares. The sound in particular deserves an applause as footsteps on a wooden floor, fire crackling, creaking doors, books slamming shut, pages fluttering set a nervous tone perfectly. Dimly lit old palace and its empty rooms speak a language of their own. Atmospheric and gloomy, the setting is ideal and unlike most Indian thrillers fear is not chaotic but quiet.Spooky palaces, lonely girl, notorious family members and buried truth…
Gaslight has all the ingredients that could make for an engaging thriller and it works to a certain extent. It’s the climax that acts as a downer and does a bit of disservice to the plot. It gaslights you into believing that things can’t be as convenient as they seem. The unravelling of mystery and joining the dots bit undoes an otherwise gripping build-up. The story lacks conflict and reasoning after a point. It loses steam and gets way too predictable after a point.
