It’s not like Anubhav Sinha is doing a social drama for the first time. Over the past 9 years, the persevering filmmaker has rebuilt his career on this foundation, with films like Mulk, Tappad, and Article 15. However, while the genre’s audience (and market) has only shrunk in recent years, it seems the barriers have only made the filmmaker more determined in his intention to make a dent, and that sense of urgency extends far and wide. So like an underground current.
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Kani Kusruthi, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Revathy
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Written by: Gaurav Solanki, Anubhav Sinha
So He has no respite. It jumps directly to an emotion instead of making us afraid; You can’t afford to wait to create an atmosphere. Even when he retraces the steps back to the triggering incident, there’s a jarring energy to the montage. As we are introduced to each of those characters in the first act, there is a deliberate edginess to the editing: we are never allowed to settle. The use of bold red text cards is urgent and strangely poetic (Dhurandhar launched just 10 weeks ago) – draws your attention, because there is no other way to capture us. It also talks about times when we are used to consuming two screens at the same time. So He is yelling at us and has no qualms when he is caught red-handed. The timely 20-minute reminder (which also alludes to the film’s title) could border on repetitive, unoriginal and preachy, but Anubhav Sinha does his best to drive home his point.
