Blackmail Review

Blackmail is a difficult film to review… not just because I saw it at a pre-release special screening (normally we buy the tickets to ensure the review is fair and unbiased) but also because it’s difficult to gauge such a film based on certain criteria’s.

The film is about a common everyday person called Dev who one day finds out that his wife is having an affair and so begins the plot of this Blackmail.

Direction and Art:

The attention to detail by the director and art team is marvellous, the story is sort of set in navi Mumbai (being my residing city) and I could recognise the roads and streets of kharghar and vashi immediately. Followed by a close-up shot of the car’s license plate, which had a Vashi RTO number… this adds NOTHING to the story as such, but it makes the premise even more grounded and set in reality. Not too many people will pay attention to such details, but it’s nice that the director has seen fit to pepper his film with such detail, be it a misaligned gun or a water cut… Or a background hoarding which has a rather inappropriate double meaning line as a slogan…

(You will know what I am talking about when you see the movie)

Plot :

Now coming to the plot of the film, its rather well written but the pace is slightly lagging. If you liked this director’s previous outing with Delhi Belly, then the pace might disappoint you, as this isn’t a mad cap youth comedy but a more middle aged story.

Now we come to the dark humour part of the film…

This film is a DARK comedy. It gets AS DARK as possible in this setting. The director is more or less no holds barred and is only a few steps from reaching Tarantino heights of blood and gore albeit set in a much more ludicrously funny situation. Think Coen brothers but more desi…

VERY few films can make a violent death look funny, much less give the audience a nervous chuckle when a main character dies rather abruptly. This movie is not for the squeamish or the family crowd. The director has made the violence, death, blood and extremely perverse deeds of the characters appear rather humorous but not in a laugh out loud sort of way, but in a shake your head and say, ‘such people exists too’ sort of way.

Acting :

Irrfan as usual, delivers… He is flawless in the film. He doesn’t break character for a moment and he leaves behind his usual irrfan-isms and plays a very docile yet internally turbulent and a perverted office worker. His frustration is seen more in his eyes than his actions or dialog, which is damn good acting. His obsession with stealing other office worker’s wife’s photos is both perverse and yet so matter of factly done, it’s hard to say if it’s funny or just disgusting!

The rest of the cast delivers to, with really good performances all around. Omi viadya of 3 idiots is back and he is again playing chatur-ish type of a character. The cast of office workers around irrfan is given a big role in the film and they too play their roles very believably.

The character of irrfan’s wife is the only role, which has no substance or anything to it other than to deliver the films plot and act on its devices. She has no good dialog, no good scenes, nothing. I even forgot her name by the end of the film since she was so unmemorable. So when irrfans character writes her name, I had to ask someone, ‘who is that ?’

Overall :

This is not a film for everyone. Quite a few people in the audience gasped at the hyper violence unleashed at times. This is a DARK comedy, which shows how twisted everyday folk can become when the situation so calls for it…

So if you like such type of cinema, (such as… jaane bhi do yaaron , pineapple express, delhi belly, shor in the city, fargo, burn after reading, the big Lebowski) then by all means this film is for you…

If you go in expecting a ‘house full or welcome’ sort of rip roaring crass comedy, then stay away. This has Too much of good cinema for such expectations.

Rating :

I wanted to give this a solid Eight, but the ending was a bit flat and the pace was sort of slow, nothing unenjoyable, but certainly not as much fun as Delhi Belly.

While Belly was a more entertaining film, this was a much better made film in overall terms of quality, scripting and plot.

So, my final rating is 7/10.

A Good times at the cinemas for those who want something more than just pure faltu bakwass comedy and crime films.