Cinemaah

Dark and Twisted


Sudhir Mishra is not half as prolific as Ram Gopal Varma, but like so many rebel-with-a-cause filmmakers of his generation is fatally attracted to gangsters and the seamy side of urban life.

His latest is a convoluted thriller inspired by the noir style, full of too many weird characters and twists so thickly laid on, that it demands complete attention and no popcorn chomping.

Arun (Irrfan Khan), who works for a shady fixer in Delhi (Saurabh Shukla),  loves Priti (Chitrangda Singh) but she falls for Shyam (Vipul Gupta), who is engaged to be married to a minister’s daughter, Anjali.

Gangster Kuldeep (Arunoday Singh), kidnaps Shyam and Priti (mistaking her to be the fiance), to demand ransom and the release of his friend Bade (Yashpal Sharma) from jail.  And this is just a part of the violent and amoral Mishra universe.

The film is as fast paced as it is confusing, and the dialogue has punch and profanity in good measure. Some of the actors in supporting parts—like Vipin Sharma and Aditi Rao Hyder (as a spitfire) and Sushant Singh as a cop are excellent. Irrfan Khan is expectedly comfortable in the character’s skin, but it is Chitrangda Singh’s raw sexuality that makes the film spin.