Try this simple math: Ram and Shyam are business partners. One day, Ram decides to get rich overnight. He decides to set fire to his garment factory, get his insurance money and live happily ever after. Shyam disagrees. On the fateful night, Shyam catches Ram in the act and kills him. The garment factory burns down.
Who gets the money: Ram's family or Shyam's?
Your answer, sadly, does not matter. What matters is that the Ramsay Brothers chose to inflict Dhund -- The Fog on us. It does have the Ramsay trademark: blood, gore, murder, suspense and skimpily-clad, screaming women. Only thing missing is the bhoot.
Sameer (Amarr Upadhyay) is smitten by Simran (Aditi Govitrikar) and his best friend Kunal (Apoorva Agnihotri) by Kajal (Divya Palat). One day, Simran decides to take part in a local beauty contest. It woudn't have been a problem if not for her friend Preeti Khurana (Sweta Menon) who also wants to take part. Preeti wants to win but sees no chance with Simran around.
So her brother Ajit (Irfan Khan) threatens Simran to drop out of the contest. Simran does not listen. She wins. Ajit is enraged. Then, the murders start.
If you are wondering where the insurance money comes in, watch the film.
Dhund is the regular commercial film hoping for a miracle. The story is weak and is, at no point, scary. Music by Viju Shah is boring. The only hummable number is the title track. The background score is a straight lift from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
Most actors are required to look scared, which they do quite well. Upadhyay tries hard to look the hero he is not. Govitrikar looks beautiful and scared but lacks screen presence. Not that Shyam Ramsay cares. As long as she swings her hips in the rain and looks terrified, her job in this film is done. Agnihotri and Palat are largely unconvincing. Gulshan Grover and Prem Chopra are wasted.
Undoubtedly, the best performer in the film is Irfan Khan. And the most wasted. Dhund is neither a thriller nor a chiller. It simply fogs your mind.