KSM Film Productions and Crescendo Films & Production’s 1978 (A) is a horror film with an apology of a story.
Suresh Thomas’ story is poorly written. With the aim of scaring the audience, Thomas has tried to pack in too much but nothing really works for the viewers. Mohit Shrivastava’s screenplay is rather tame and even dull. Logic has been thrown to the winds. Yes, a few scenes do send shivers down the spine but overall, the shoddy screenplay does little to horrify the audience. Mohit Shrivastava’s dialogues are pedestrian.
Gaurav Sharma (as Sunny), Yash Rajpara (as Dhruv), Vaishnavi Kadam (as Malini), Apurva Godbole (as Tina), Muskaan Tomar (as Pooja), Rishabh Raj (as Bhushan) and Sunny Yadav (as Rajan) deliver mediocre performances. Maliha Malla is okay as Ritika. Abuzar Akhtar is ordinary in the role of Rakesh. Rohit Mugullu (as Raghav) and Sonyaa (as Ratna Kumari) lend routine support.
Aziz Zee’s direction is terribly weak. Music (by Santosh Nair, Kunal Shamshere Malla and Abuzar Akhtar) and lyrics (Alok Ranjan Jha, Prashant Thapa and Anis Ali Sabri) are very ordinary. Nimit Vaishnav’s background music lacks impact. Mohamed Jaffer’s camerawork and editing are found lacking.
On the whole, 1978 is a flop fare as it offers little by way of entertainment.
Released on 3-5-’19 at Glamour (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Theatre King. Publicity & opening: horrifyingly poor. …….Also released all over.