REVIEW: DHAAKAD

Producers: Deepak Mukut and Sohail Maklai

Director: Razneesh ‘Razy’ Ghai

Star cast: Kangana Ranaut, Arjun Rampal, Sharib Hashmi, Divya Dutta & Saswata Chatterjee

Genre- Dark Thriller

Platform of Release- Theatrical

Damp Squib!

Jyothi Venkatesh

The film revolves around Special Agent Agni (Kangana Ranaut a fearless field officer of the International Task Force,) who is tasked to find information and eventually, eliminate Rudraveer, (Arjun Rampal) an international human trafficker and a coal mafioso. Agni’s work takes her from Europe to central India and back. Things turn personal when Agni discovers a truth that connects her to Rudraveer.

Though her mission is to crack the whip on an international human trafficking racket that has its roots in the coal mines of central India, she ends up with a personal score to settle with Rudraveer, the kingpin of this racket being run from central India’s coal mines.

First things first. Though Arjun Rampal does not at all suit his role and has been wasted inanely, it is a vehicle which belongs out and out to Kangana Ranaut, who wins you over with her agility, strength and her involvement to package her character to make it look believable and applause-worthy.

Sharib Hashmi impresses in a small but sweet role as the helpless father of a little daughter while Divta Dutta steals the scene with her plump role as a female antagonist who functions along with Rudraveer. Saswata Chatterji is as usual brilliant

Deservedly, the entire credit of the black film ought to go to action choreography and camerawork (by Tetsuo Nagata). Without these two elements wonderfully married to one another, this action movie would not have had as much sheen in its appearance as it has now.

Unfortunately the film is marred by the tepid and bland storytelling which is so colourless and soulless, that watching Dhaakad is equivalent to lying down on a giant block of ice on a winter’s day.

The less said story telling the better it is since there is hardly any story and everyone in Dhaakad is trigger-happy and mind you, they rarely miss a shot. There's blood, gore, action, gunshots and characters with their own set of eccentricities, and everyone packs a punch on screen.

There is mayhem, there is violence and the worst is that though Razneesh Razy Ghai has directed several ad films before, he falls flat as a director with this film as there is absolutely no story.

The worst aspect of the film is that there are at least a couple of scenes which are shown repetitively which only add to irritating the poor viewer.

The screen turns black and white each time they want to show something that had happened in the past and that actually doesn't look much out of place.

The director, who has co-written the story with Chintan Gandhi and Rinish Ravindra with dialogues from Ritesh Shah, does not seem to have even an iota of idea on how a female-led action film ought to work just on that one premise.

Alas! Great action doesn't always translate into a great film. The film also has a song which lingers into the frame again and again at least thrice- Soja Soja and succeeds in lulling the audience into slumber

It is a violence film not at all worth watching and I will sum it up as a damp squib