When Robin and Anu were carrying the pieces of Ashish’s body parts in that polythene bag, trying to dispose off the body; I yawned. I was not a bit interested in what was happening on screen. My mind went back almost 2 decades to recall Ajay Sharma carrying the body of Priya’s friend in a red suitcase. And he dragged that suitcase in full public view, cutting through the crowd and right across the lobby of a hotel. Ajay dropped the bag near the shores of Mumbai, and that was 20 years ago. The scene in NALS was not half as scintillating and shocking as the one in Baazigar. Not sure whether the difference was in the shot or the direction, but SRK and Abbas-Mastan made it look real.
And here, we had this new age couple with huge shopping bags, trying to dispose a body. The experience should have been more visceral, if the director wanted to shock the audience or even get a reaction. Except for brandishing the knife, nothing else was shown. At least through a ground-glass, some actions could have been captured!
Anyways, the scene which was supposed to be the crux of the movie; to show the inhumaness and the deep-seated animal within us, just fell flat. And from then on, the movie was a big bore.
The only other scene worth mentioning was in the lock-up where the inspector tells Robin ‘affair chal raha tha uska anu ke saath … tu ch**iya bann gaya’. The look on Robin’s face was brilliant, Deepak Dobriyal played him so well. The last movie I had seen of Deepak was Tanu Weds Manu, and that character of Puppy was so different from this one. I have always seen Deepak in intense roles, be it Gulaal or Delhi 6 or NALS. But TWM changed the perception of a lot of people, where he played the character with such ease and conviction. That’s the mark of a good actor, a person who can essay all kinds of roles. Robin was believable. His frustration when Anu kept hanging up on him or his moment of fury when he stepped into the apartment or his loving ways when he sent across the lovely red dress for Anu; all done so well.
Mahi was equally good. But her scenes were marred by some predictable screenplay about casting couch and the voyeuristic camera following her ankles and feet everywhere. Except for her screech and teary eyes, the director failed to capture Anu’s desperation to become an actress or her guilt that lead Robin to kill Ashish.
I was hoping that the camera would be the mouth-piece for all those body parts which would have eventually been chopped, but the director failed me here as well. All that camera work, filming various body parts, came a cropper. Anyhow, the movie was bland, lacking any kind of taste; neither artistic nor entertaining nor shocking. Nothing!
And the excessive usage of Rangeela sound track was another bad idea. It was mere indulgence, hoping that the magic of Rangeela would be recreated. But alas! Rangeela was a movie because of the writing and acting of Aamir and Jackie, and the music of Rahman; and last but not the least, Urmila.
This movie is just gimmickery, trying to make stuff that sells. But sadly, this is just a half an hour news capsule or reconstructed news piece from the channels of Hindi heartland. Yet another way to make some quick bucks and cash in on a fresh case, a case of striking the iron while its still hot. And please don’t get me started on crimes of passion, which this is definitely not. Ramu has just entered the leagues of Bhandarkar.