The Body is a remake of the Spanish film El cuerpo. While it mostly sticks to the original, some notable changes do not seem to work for it. Watching it, you cannot help but wonder what the filmmakers intended. Did they want to make a thriller or were trying to give the film a B-grade sleazy movie finish on purpose? I think that the film ends up in no man’s land. We take a closer look at it in The Body film review.
In a nutshell, the story of The Body is about a missing corpse that belongs to a wealthy businesswoman. After it disappears from the morgue, her husband is called in for investigation and soon finds himself the prime suspect. What follows is an inquiry into the disappearance with a twist at the end.
At least in part, the locations are noticeably different from the original. While the vistas of azure blue skies and pristine waters of Mauritius look beautiful, they do not go with the story. Apart from that, introducing songs here does not seem such a brilliant idea as it takes you out of the story.
The casting too seems to be missing the mark here. Playing the role of Emraan Hashmi’s wife, Sobhita Dhulipala, is miscast here. Not only is she much younger than the actor cast for the same part in the original, but she also feels artificial in the role.
The Body goes into horror territory that is not required, as it distracts from the essence of the film. Even with the casting of the supporting role, Vedhika, as Emraan Hashmi’s love interest, does not seem to fit the bill. Not only is her character ill-conceived, but she also tends to get overly-dramatic in one too many scenes.
Rishi Kapoor, as the investigating officer, is good, but he is overstretching here because of the inconsistent narrative. The same goes for Emraan Hashmi. Although, thankfully for him, he is on familiar grounds having portrayed similar characters in the past. Out of all the casting choices made, he seems to be the best. Ironically, even that does not help the film as most of the screenplay is skewed towards him and thus reduces the other actors to work around him and barring Rishi Kapoor in a few scenes, rarely stand out.
The filmmakers lose track of the primary reason why this film exists in the first place. Not being an original story, it is seldom a good idea to tinker with it, unless it will pay off. And in this case, I am not sure if the changes work in favor of the film.
To begin with, El cuerpo is not a film that you would want to remake. Given its story, that film does the best it can and therefore leaves no room for any further iterations to follow. Hence, it is not about doing better but making sure that you do not end up way below the original.
You always knew that The Body is not going to be a great film. Still, over here, it barely manages to scratch the mediocrity mark. Unless you are a diehard Emraan Hashmi fan, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot give The Body a miss.
The Body film review rates The Body 
(2 / 5)
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