Cast – Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda, Adil Hussain, Tisca Chopra, Alexx O’Nell
Director/Writer – Prawaal Raman
Sometimes it’s difficult to assess whether our expectations are way too high or the films fail to deliver .
How does one explain the likes of Prawaal Raman, a master of the thriller genre, failing so miserably in precisely that very department?
The good parts first…
Randeep Hooda is marvellous, with his absolute resemblance to Charles right from the face cut, hollow cheek bones, hair style, to the slick and slimy shrewdness and body language of a swindler, his accent , his smirk, everything added up to a close portrayal of the real Charles.
His performance, more about expressions and body language and less about dialogues, is admirable .
Adil Hussain and Richa Chaddha are good too .
The cinematography, the camera angles, the lights, the music have been well used to create the aura required. That era and specially Goa and its hippie culture have been well created.
The character in question is intriguing and interesting… but sadly… the narrative isn’t!
The story begins with such broken and jumbled narration, with so many characters thrown in the first ten minutes, that we are just left fumbling and gathering, trying to put together the jigsaw.
And when we do manage to get our bearings, we realise that it’s getting boring and monotonous.
None of the characters have been etched out with depth , not even of Charles for that matter. So we fail to feel the connect or see the wickedness in Charles or feel repelled.
There is no suspense or thrill. Seems more like bits and pieces sewn together.
Agreed that it’s a real story… but of a man whose life, personality and exploits were by sure far more chilling and thrilling!
The story does become a little coherent in the second half, but nothing that would satisfy the audience that had been waiting so eagerly. On the whole movie does have a certain interesting and different feel, has a lot of style but is actually down right boring.