Malang (2020) Review!!!

Synopsis – Advait visits Goa where he meets Sara, a free-spirited girl who lives life unshackled. Opposites attract and all goes well until life turns upside down. Years later, Advait is on a killing spree with cops Aghase and Michael in his way.

My Take – Since marking his directorial debut with 2005’s Zeher, Mohit Suri has gained fame and acclaim for his skill to adapt, remake and Indianize films mainly of the South Korean thriller variety. With back to back films like Murder 2 (2011), Aashiqui 2 (2013) and Ek Villain (2014) finding immense success at the box office, as a director Suri soon became the next go to guy for studios willing to adhere to his style of film-making.

However, with the critical and commercial failure of both his next outings, Hamari Adhuri Kahani (2015) and Half Girlfriend (2017), a pair of under-cooked and overly loud romantic dramas, three years later, director Suri is back to serving the genre which served him best.

Though his latest is not a remake, however, working with writer Aseem Arrora, here, he seems to have mixed and mashed everything which has worked in his favor before, resulting in a film which is an entertainer through and through. It has action, thrill, romance, suspense, and a soulful soundtrack, all wrapped up in one big package.

While the film is definitely not flawless, and like any typical Bollywood potboiler, it is replete with excesses. Yet, what works tremendously in the film’s favor is its pace. Even if the developments are quite predictable, they take place at a rapid pace. Giving the primary characters ample time to establish different branches of the story and they have, more or less, done justice to their parts. Hereby making this an eminently watchable thriller.

Taking place a night before Christmas, the story follows Advait Thakur (Aditya Roy Kapur), who upon release from prison, begins a killing spree right after calling Anjaney Agashe (Anil Kapoor), a trigger happy cop, informing him that he would be done by the time midnight clocks in. When it becomes evident that Advait is targeting only policemen, Agashe along with Michael Rodriguez (Kunal Kemmu), a seemingly by the book idealistic cop, begin a cat and mouse game, with him, all the while trying to find the link to the event connecting the victims.

An event which may have taken place five years ago, when Advait, then an introvert, came to Goa and ended up hanging around with Sara (Disha Patani), a free-spirited girl from London, who was visiting India for the first time and wanted to live life to the fullest. While both instantly felt a connection and become immensely attached to each other, however, soon everything spirals out of control.

While the core idea sounds cliched, writer Aniruddha Guha‘s screenplay maintains the suspense by opting for a parallel narrative structure while unfolding what lead to violent revenge in a flashback track, and how it is executed in the current day scenario. Hands down, this has to be one of the most stylishly executed Bollywood thriller in a while, also the most twisted. While on paper it is really an old-school revenge thriller yet it manages to throw in a few clever spins despite an overall adherence to the pot boiler masala.

Here, director Mohit Suri maintains a steady grip on the narrative for most parts. The film begins well with a power-packed action scene and dives straight into the drama. While the first half of the film is quite over the place owing to all the time jumps between past and present, mainly focusing on the lead’s chemistry followed by loud and vibrant parties where they end up taking drugs and not to forget the killings which makes even the lively element of the film die down. But it is the second half which grips your attention as these lead characters finally start to expose their true colors of psychological disturbance.

What makes the film most interesting is that all the characters are uni-dimensional. Like most Mohit Suri‘s films protagonists over the years, the characters here are all temperamentally quirky and morally flexible, which gives the film a new twisted push to its storyline, which gets able aid from Devendra Murdeshwar‘s editing, who has adequately cut the film.

The film also has successfully captured the hilarious moments which contribute to the building of the film. For example the scene where Agashe brings an African American drug peddler into questioning who claims to have visited India over student visa but due his oppression suddenly starts blabbering out the truth in Hindi followed by Marathi which is definitely hilarious.

Nevertheless, what doesn’t work here is the repetition of the theme and the lack of innovation in the narrative, which is also at times too convenient. Glamorous songs, ripped muscles and overhead camera can’t put a curtain on the lack of urgency. The songs too, though pretty good, act as speed breakers.

Performance wise, Aditya Roy Kapur has done a stellar job here, as he brought out the angst of a revenge killer perfectly to the table. His physical transformation just took the action scenes a notch higher. Disha Patani, this is her strongest role yet, and she is impressive in the way she retains the allure about her character. Their chemistry gives you the feels and their time of adventuring makes you feel like going on an adrenaline-filled vacation.

Anil Kapoor is also in his element and his character fits right into his comfort zone. Here, he is unapologetically wicked, executing villainy with wry humor. However, the real scene stealer remains Kunal Khemu, who plays out his character brilliantly. Essaying a character that metamorphoses quietly into a totally different human being, the underutilized actor admirably blends complex emotions with understated ease.

In supporting roles, Elli AvrRam, Amruta Khanvilkar, Keith Sequeira, Vatsal Sheth, Shaad Randhawa and Prasad Jawade also pitch in sincere performances. On the whole, ‘Malang’ is an entertaining romantic thriller that offers enough thrill and suspense to keep you hooked.