Producer: Dr. Wijahat Kareem 
Director: Sushen Bhatnagar 
Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Raveena Tandon, Aditi Govitrikar, Danny Denzongpa, Sanjay Kapoor
Music: Jatin-Lalit

The new trend has more than just set in, and Sushen Bhatnagar’s Soch is yet another of those suspense and thriller which seems to have taken Bollywood like an epidemic. .

Suspense is a genre not frequently attempted in Bollywood and we all know why? Not many directors tread the sharp edge of suspense for its complexities and non-repeat value, however since the trend has set in you have them all vying with each other to be the best. .

Soch is the wannabe in that aspect. It aims to be a thriller, but degenerates to the regular hero chasing the villain through the streets of Mumbai, beating him up and rescuing the girl. The plot is slightly more complicated though. .

The plot: Raj Matthew (Sanjay Kapoor) is a film star whose marriage is a living hell. His wife Madhulika (Aditi Govitrikar), a starlet who left cinema at the peak of her career to marry him, is insanely jealous of his relationship with director Preeti Sardesai (Raveena Tandon). She suspects the two are having an affair and refuses to believe anything to the contrary. Though Preeti loves Raj, she respects his marriage and does not cross the line of friendship. .

As Madhulika continues to simmer and suspect her husband of imagined infidelities, their life becomes a nightmare, till in a fit of pique, Raj tells a stranger Om (Arbaaz Khan) that it would be convenient to have her dead and out of his life. Om offers Raj a bargain. In return for killing his wife, Raj will murder Om's father, DCP Nautiyal, whom he desperately wants to see dead. Raj laughs it off, but says it is a neat idea. .

Soon, Madhulika is dead and it is Raj's turn to keep his side of the deal. Till then, he has Om terrorising him and Preeti, alternately coercing and coaxing him to commit murder. .

Soch calls itself a thriller --- it really tries hard --- but the essential elements are missing. There is no suspense, heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety or the nerve-wracking tension that gets the adrenaline flowing. .

First-time writer-director Sushen Bhatnagar has failed to develop the plot. He uses the very cliched style of storytelling, flashbacks to bring out scenes from the past, slow camera movements to build tension and song sequences for every 20 minutes of narrative. .

Performancewise Aditi Govitrikar typifies the dumb blonde. She is stunningly beautiful, but can't pull off her role as the jealous, crazy wife. While her drop-dead gorgeous looks keep your eyes riveted to her onscreen persona, however it backfires as she fails to perform. Her stiff body language, her expressionless grey-green eyes and her poor emoting moments only add to the woes. .

Sanjay Kapoor lands a plum role however he has wasted a different fantastic character that any other actor would have loved to do by keeping himself within the limits of probably what he was briefed. The result is that Kapoor stunts the character to a run-of-the-mill hero. .

Raveena Tandon, who last year won the National Award for Best Actress for her role in Kalpana Lajmi's Daman, barely passes muster in this film. Not her fault, the poor conceptualisation of her role leaves her out in the cold. With a script that greatly constraints her talent, Tandon cannot be blamed for being part of a very mediocre effort. .

The only one who is credible is Arbaaz Khan as the psychopath, out to make the hero keep his side of the deal. He makes a fine villain. He is believable, menacing, sinister and has the audience's sympathy, all without resorting to over-the-top theatrics. But then, Arbaaz has done this before, the character looks like the extension of his character in Abbas Mustan’s Daraar which was his debut film.