This film says to its audience- Kaminey! I will not let you sit idly, brain dead and just savor this film. Instead it will make you sit up almost glued to the edge of your seat and notice every single ongoing. You cannot leave your brain behind, otherwise you'll miss out a lot and yes, the film is not for casual viewing. Wherever, director Vishaal Bhardwaj finds that the next instance is predictable, he cuts the scene, midway, goes ahead and leave the rest for audience imagination to put two plus two. In this whole respect, this fast paced crime thriller succeeds. The film stays one stop ahead of audience thought process, though it tells the same story rooted in the same underworld theme for nth time. There is a novelty in presentation as well as visual style. But where it falters? Well, the plot is wafer thin and till interval, the story hardly moves, but yes it does introduce its multi layered complex characters. Director strikes a fine balance between realistic film making as well as high pitch, larger than life drama. This is the best so far among releases of 2009. The film is dark and gloomy, where most of the frames are under lit. Morality is kept aside. There is a bit of hype around this film. But for such films, not made everyday, each hype is well deserved. So yes, this film would not touch the conventional entertainment territory and does not strike an emotional chord with the normal audience. Therefore, those calling "Love Aajkal" a contemporary, realistic love story or "New York" a realistic issue based film, can take a walk. But you wait Bhardwaj, you raised the bar and next time your audience is thirsty for more and therefore, while telling stories you have to turn more "mean", I mean, more "Kamina".
Sandhir Flora
Sandhir Flora