ZORA is an outdated and poorly made film

Zora Review {1.5/5} & Review Rating

Director: Rajiv Rai

Zora Movie Review Synopsis:
ZORA is the story of a mysterious killer. The year is 2003. Viraat Singh (Vikas Goswami) is an honest inspector of the Jaipur Police who exposes a gang publishing fake stamp paper. Before he could arrest them, a dangerous female killer, Zora, kills them and also a few cops. Viraat runs away with the cash that he confiscated from the scene of the crime. He goes to his house, takes away his son Ranjit (Jay Kishan Mangwani) and escapes to a faraway safehouse. Sadly, Zora manages to reach there and she kills Viraat by hanging him. Zora is covered from head to toe and Ranjit, who’s in hiding, sees her appearance and not her face. Zora and her boyfriend, John Lobo (Niloy Banergee), cleverly make it seem like it was Viraat who killed the gang members and the cops, as he wanted the money for himself. They further cook up a story that Viraat was overcome by guilt and thus, he ended his life. The court declares Viraat guilty. Twenty years pass. In the present day, Ranjit (Ravinder Kaur) has followed his father’s footsteps and entered the police force. He reports to Iqbal Sheikh (Karan Vir). Ranjit is seen as a timid and frightened cop. But in reality, Ranjit is fearless. Without the knowledge of Iqbal or the Commissioner (Tarun Kumar Chauhan), he has taken the law into his own hands and killed many dreaded gangsters in Rajasthan. Iqbal is suspicious that Ranjit is the one who is doing it, but he’s unable to prove so. Meanwhile, during one such ‘clean-up’ operation, Ranjit meets those who were involved in the 2003 stamp paper case. Ranjit delves into it so that his father can get justice. But all of a sudden, Zora makes a comeback and is determined to stop Ranjit in his tracks. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Zora Movie Story Review:
Rajiv Rai‘s story is outdated but still could have made for a decent entertainer. Rajiv Rai’s screenplay, however, is lacklustre and has no modern touch at all. Raashid Rangrez’s dialogues are okay and too filmy.

Rajiv Rai’s direction is not up to the mark and nowhere close to the expert direction that we witnessed in films like VISHWATMA, TRIDEV, MOHRA, GUPT etc. It seems like he’s still stuck in the 90s. One might argue that old-school style films are working. However, these films have a balance of yesteryear sensibilities and modern-day touch. The latter is completely missing in the film. He surely gets a few aspects right like Iqbal getting frustrated over not being able to nail Ranjit, the use of perfume, confusing the audience into believing that certain characters could be Zora, etc. He also uses the background score to his advantage. But the minuses outweigh the minuses heavily. The goings-on are silly and also the execution style is not just like a vintage film but also in the zone of crime TV shows. The finale might have been unexpected; however, it’s also a bit predictable.

Zora Movie Review Performances:
Ravinder Kaur looks dashing but hams in scenes where he’s playing to the gallery. Karan Vir is better as the second hero of the film. Vikas Goswami does well in a cameo. Niloy Banergee leaves a mark with his act and look, though he has a cameo. Nikhil Dewan (Kamal Nath) plays a difficult role with ease, but he also goes overboard. Sofia Parveen (Bindu Solanki) looks charming and gives a fair performance. Dilraj Kaur (Kaur) is passable and her character is bewildering. She’s shown as someone who was present even in the 2003 track but she doesn’t look that old. Meena Vaibhav (Seema) is average. The makers fail to convincingly establish why she was so scared of Zora. Neetu Bhatt (Freida Lobo) hams and the same goes for Gajendra Rathi (lawyer Narayan Solanki). Jay Kishan Mangwani, Tarun Kumar Chauhan, Leena Sharma (Dr Vandana), Sohani Kumar (Deepa; rescued girl), Nishant Verma (Gullu Gujjar), Vikram Singh (Khabri), Altaf Husain (Kishori Lal), Sharad Sharma (Dhannu Gujjar), Manish Vashisht (Badru) and Rony Kaula (Luka) are fine.

Zora movie music and other technical aspects:
Viju Shah’s music is energetic. The title song is stylish and catchy. However, it’s disappointing to know that there’s only one track in the whole film. There’s no romantic angle and hence, probably there was no scope for more tracks. But when Rajiv Rai and Viju Shah collaborate after so many years, one would have expected a couple of songs, if not more. Viju Shah’s background score is the best part of the film.

Lalit Sahoo’s cinematography is neat. Raashid Rangrez’s production design gives the film a TV show look. Shabana Khanam’s costumes are decent. Kinder W Singh’s action seems rehearsed. Rajiv Rai’s editing works.

Zora Movie Review Conclusion:
On the whole, ZORA is an outdated and poorly made film. At the box office, it’ll sink without a trace.