Cast – Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sobhita Dhulipala, Vicky Kaushal
Director – Anurag Kashyap
Writers – Anurag Kashyap, Vasan Bala
Macabre is the word for it.
Keeping it true to Anurag Kashyap style of direction, this one was expected to be dark and gritty and the trailers gave us an idea too.
But Raman Raghav is as dark and as ugly as it can get.
It basically makes us dwell into the dark alleys of the mind and deeds of a psychopath killer. But what’s more unnerving is the metaphor of him that we see in the other character who is a policeman.
At one instance, sarcastic similarities have been drawn between a policeman and a criminal which seemed more of humour at that point of time… only till that point in the movie when it no longer seemed a humour or sarcasm. That journey of proving and placing the two metaphors together is as difficult as it can get… unlashing a lot of bloodshed and gore. The ugliness of human depravity and the casualness with which the two protagonists go about it may actually make you feel queasy and tired at many points of time.
The highest and the brightest points of this dark movie are the smashing performances by Nawazuddin and Vicky Kaushal.
Not that we haven’t seen Nawazuddin in grey or psychotic characters, but this time he plays it so contorted that it sends a chill down the spine. The actor is at his marvellous best. His morbid and matter-of-factly sense of honour in fact elicits many a laughs in spite of the circumstances of the dialogues.
Vicky Kaushal plays a complete extreme to the simple guy in Masaan. A complicated dark policeman this time… standing up at his best besides the ace actor Nawazuddin.
Though the genre is definitely a thriller but at points you might feel the story going nowhere except cruel murders. It takes a lot of heart and time to try and read what the writer Anurag is trying to convey.
The camerawork , the music are in perfect sync with the mood of the movie.
Dark frames, dark alleys, crime, dirt, muck and grime, oily unpleasant close ups, kinky minds… Anurag Kashyap is at his forte’s best here. Leaves no stone unturned to show ugly realities.
Is there a difference between mindless killing… and a killing which is done because of hatred or greed or revenge or religion or supremacy or a mob killing… or they are just metaphors… food for thought.
Not for the faint hearted… but an Anurag Kashyap movie through and through.
Score 7 on 10.