Raw, brutal and stylish, that's Anurag Kashyap's Mumbai
slasher about serial killer Raman 2.0 smashing peoples
heads into pulp inspired by his hero, the true life serial killer Raman
Raghav who terrorized Bombay in the 1960's.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the phenomenal outstanding actor, yet again plays
a murderer (as in Badlapur from 2015)
but this time he's a Psychotic Monster and not much repentant and finally
even likeable as in Badlapur.
This film is dark and nasty and maybe a bit too slick, well, i guess
the old Anurag Kashyap IS NO MORE and
his indie filmmaking days are over. Well, by Bollywood standards this
film may not be mainstream, but certainly
by western standards. Soon we will surely hear he's fraternizing with
hipsters as Quentin Tarantino, yuck!
I much prefer his other crime movie Ugly, it was much better and with
more substance to it, and the power of
his masterpieces Gulaal, Black Friday and Dev. D he will probably never
again reach as a filmmaker.
This film is very gruesome and the story is about a
mentally ill murderer's killing spree in Mumbai and a slime cop
murdering people to hide the tracks revealing his drug addiction. Vicky
Kaushal is also good as the intensely un-
likeable police inspector, what a scum, the soul brother to the serial
killer - Raghav.
In the films text intro we get to know that Raman Raghav
committed 41 murders in the 1960's Bombay and that
this film is NOT about him. That's correct as this film is about the
killer Raman/Sindhi Dalwai (Nawazuddin) and
this film takes place during his murder spree between 2013-2015. He
starts off killing a drug dealer with a hammer
and later shifts to a car-jack when he kills his sister, her husband
and her little kid. Happily he continues to murder
people and he appears to be some sort of an evil force of nature, no
bad feelings, he just smilingly ends your life.
He has a true soulmate though, he thinks, in the police
inspector Raghavan (Kaushal) who's also a killer and a drug
addict. Raghavan likes to party and take drugs with his party girl girlfriend
Smrutika/Simmy (Sobhita Dhulipala)
and when he makes his first killing (probably the first, we really don't
know that) to cover his tracks, and when he's
befriended by Raman, he's really on a downhill track into murder and
madness.
The film is told in 8 chapters and Nawaz
is hypnotic to watch. He's in his own league really
There are some annoying things i noticed with much frustration.
Poor script work.
SPOILER WARNING BELOW
....................................
1. Raman has a huge (and i mean HUGE) scar over his face,
has committed at least 12 murders but still can walk the
streets of Mumbai dragging an enormous car-jack on the ground without
anyone taking notice ... i know Mumbai
is a huge megacity but surely the police would have gone out with a
media description as a warning to the public ?
2. When the policemen are arresting him, then known to having committed
at least 15 murders, Fifteen that is, they
are without weapons, unarmed and without handcuffs .... ? More like
arresting a shop-lifter something - Ridiculous!
3. Raman can stalk and talk to Simmy without her or anyone else recognizing
him ? She's the girlfriend of the investi-
gating police officer and he must be the most wanted man in India -
and the most recognizeable one with that scar ?
4. When party girl Ankita sees insp. Raghavan kill someone
and narrowly escapes to be murdered herself, what does
she do? Naturally, she sits at her home, watches the TV and quietly
awaits the crazed policeman ? Wise move.
I didn't like the
ending much as it was too nihilistic and
evil to enjoy. Why did poor Ankita (Anuschka Sawhney)
have to die ?
Anamorphic widescreen, hindi DTS-HD Master Audio or
DD with english subtitles.
Extras without subs 44 minutes (deleted scenes, Shooting/Finishing the
film with Kashyap with film team in hindish,
a mix of hindi and english)
