Can “1920: Horrors Of The Heart” Make You Feel The Fear?

Let me narrate to you the tale of the vengeful heart with 1920: Horrors Of The Heart. As Meghna’s father commits suicide, she seeks to avenge his death from her deceitful mother. As Meghna goes to her mother’s mansion to seek vengeance, unexpected things happen which make her aware of a hidden truth. Written by Mahesh Bhatt, produced by Vikram Bhatt, and directed by Krishna Bhatt, 1920: Horrors Of The Heart was released across theaters on June 23, 2023.

To check out my full narration of the story, click here. In the meantime, check out my honest opinion!

1920: Horrors Of The Heart Official Trailer:

The Good:

The story of 1920: Horrors Of The Heart is captivating. A girl trying to seek revenge for the wrong done by her deceitful mother to her late father, and later her finding out that it was her father who was the actual villain is for sure engrossing. However, even if the story is entertaining, the way the filmmakers have presented this thrilling and chilling drama on-screen is not up to the mark. If I would have made this film, I would have loaded it with twists and turns that would have instilled suspense in the minds of the audience with every passing moment. Still, the dialogues in 1920: Horrors Of The Heart are vengeful and impactful at the same time. The movie indeed has powerful dialogues by Avika Gor who, as Meghna, is bent upon avenging the death of her father.

The best parts of 1920: Horrors Of The Heart are its cinematography and songs. The dark and mystical visuals coupled with the old-fashioned interiors of the 1920s era created a marvelous viewing experience. And the songs! They are extraordinarily beautiful and melodious. They sound like honey to the ears and I believe, 1920: Horrors Of The Heart has the best songs that Bollywood has ever produced. The magical melodious voices of singers Raj Barman, Palak Muchhal, and Papon will instill a heavenly experience that will make you take a deep dive into an ocean of emotions.

The Bad:

After all, it is Bollywood! Bollywood has a very different approach to making horror films compared to Hollywood. Mainly, it is the Bhatt family who is involved in making horror movies in Bollywood. And the main substance in Bhatt’s horror movies is sex! The Bhatt family’s obsession with sex in films dates back decades. I know this because I have been watching their horror movies since my childhood, and all of them have steamy sex scenes.

Just like any other Bhatt horror movie, 1920: Horrors Of The Heart directed by Vikram Bhatt’s daughter Krishna Bhatt contains steamy scenes between Avika Gor who plays Meghna, and Deepak Pandor who plays her boyfriend Arjun. I mean, why? You tag a movie as a “family” horror-drama, and then how could you think you can watch such explicit scenes along with your family which may comprise your mom, dad, brother, and sister?

I have seen Avika Gor in Hindi television serials since she was a child actor. She is well known for playing the role of the child bride “Anandi” in the Indian television series “Balika Vadhu”. And now she is all grown up and it was shocking for me to see her in her debut Bollywood movie giving all steamy scenes with her co-actor.

More than the sex scenes, the worst part of 1920: Horrors Of The Heart is its screenplay. Even if the story was thrilling, the filmmakers just couldn’t present it properly because of which the essence of horror, suspense, and thrill was lost as the screenplay proceeded.

There were funny instances too which should never be there if you are making a genuine horror movie. Firstly, Meghna’s father’s spirit (Randheer Rai) looked just like an ordinary man. When you are portraying him as a ghost, the audience expects you to give him a freaky look which can scare the shit out of anybody. In one scene, it can be seen that Meghna calls her father’s spirit and he seemed very dejected. Then she catches hold of his cheeks with her hand and stares at him and said, “Father, you need to seek revenge for what Mom has done to you!” This was hilarious. Does anybody talk to a ghost in this manner? Deepak Pandor is an unknown struggler in Bollywood. I have never heard of him before and his performance is equally bad. I mean, he is presented as a powerful sorcerer in this movie and his personality does not seem to fit the role. Barkha Bisht as Meghna’s mother Radhika, and Rahul Dev as Radhika’s boyfriend Shantanu looked convincing in their roles. The ghostly makeup of child actor Ketaki Kulkarni who plays Aditi was not up to the mark. If you look closely, you can very well make out that her face has been applied with makeup to look evil and ghostly. That really spoils the horror essence. Even if this film has a short run duration of 2 hours, I just cannot praise its editing as the screenplay and direction were poor.

The Verdict:

If you ask me, I would say that the element of horror is very much missing from 1920: Horrors Of The Heart. The film fails to scare the audience which is expected from any genuine horror movie. If only Krishna Bhatt had given more effort in formulating the screenplay in a better manner. Vikram Bhatt has been making horror movies for ages and it seems that his approach to making horror movies has remained stagnant with time. Now he has passed on his directorial crown to his daughter Krishna Bhatt and it seems that she too is continuing her dad’s legacy of making outdated and boring horror movies that fail to instill fear. The lead character Meghna played by Avika Gor looked confused and irritated throughout the movie which made the viewing experience even more unpleasant. The astonishing part about this movie is that both Danish Pandor and Randheer Rai are of the same age in real life, but Danish plays Meghna’s boyfriend whereas Randheer plays her dead father.

1920 is a film franchise that has been running for decades. The first movie, Vikram Bhatt’s “1920” was released in 2008, then came “1920: Evil Returns” in 2012, following that “1920: London” in 2016, then suddenly the name changed to “1921” in 2018, and finally, “1920: Horrors Of The Heart” was released in 2023. Bhatt’s obsession with the 1920 franchise will continue but the sad part is that if you compare these horror movies with the amazing horror movies that they make in Hollywood, you will agree to the fact that they simply fail in the name of instilling fear.

If you have seen some of the earlier released horror movies of Vikram Bhatt like Haunted, you would have fallen from your chair. Haunted showed the hero going one-on-one with an evil spirit in hand-to-hand combat! That was hilarious! You have to see it to believe it! So, these Bollywood-style horror movies made by Vikram Bhatt have action too. Of course, Bollywood, at times, can never part ways with action, even if it is a horror film. Anything for the sake of entertainment!