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indram84
Reviews
Kaalkoot (2023)
An exquisitely crafted crime drama
An exquisitely crafted crime drama revolving around an acid attack. The drama is interleaved with commentary of the society on the concept of shame for not or not being able to conform to the standards set by the society. It touches on many contemporary issues like marriage, domestic violence, girl child killing, honor attacks, etc. It does not take sides or tries to justify. It simply shows both sides and leaves the viewer in the dilemma of right and wrong.
The main characters are portrayed by thespian actors like Seema Biswas and Yashpal Sharma along with a very capable new comers Vijay Verma and Sweta Tripathy. Other characters do a well rounded job to fill in especially Gopal Datt as the senior inspector.
The angst of a recently widowed mother, trials and tribulations of a simple person joining the police force and the heart wrenching pain of an acid attack victim is immaculately played out on the screen. It was indeed a visual treat that is not regularly seen on the small or big screen. Yashpal Sharma shines as double talking subordinate eager to please. The good acting moves the story forward in a rather simple storyline. Do not let the simplicity of the story fool you. You will be at the edge of the seat till the last minute of the last episode.
The director takes some rather far fetched creative liberties in the last episode where the showdown to capture the culprit concludes. I would happily excuse the exaggeration for a very relatable rest of the story.
In the end I would have liked to see some accolades for Ravi on the professional front which is sorely missing from the story as he forsakes the shackles of societal conformance and comes out as a better human.
Highly recommended. Watch it while you can.
The Freelancer (2023)
Sucks at multiple levels
1. It was difficult to relate to any of the characters as they were not developed. The to and fro jumps on timelines through flashback were not tightly edited so were not as impactful. Why a character did what he did was only know to him. Viewers were just observers.
2. Wafer thin script. The story was unique and had a lot of potential but in the end fell flat. Imagine rescuing the girl from an empty village with little bloodshed with a predictable and dumb twist thrown in.
3. Empty plot points. Why did he start drinking so much? Slapping the minister was his choice. And his wife left him just for a day of heavy drinking and was so depressed that she killed their kid while backing up. What happened to good old child lock? Similarly, who was the 'dawat' lady, was the freelancer a freelancer before he met Dr. Khan, if he was then why did he go to college, if not then why was he taking bounties to kill people, why didn't anybody help when an Indian went missing abroad, why is the main character close to his partners daughter while not carrying about his own son, etc.
4. No show and too much tell. You come to know about the characters from what others say about them. No credible actions were seen on screen. Only a few long tracking shots to deliver a package or something insignificant. Only cheap suspense tropes like a blind person turning to look at insugents, etc.
In the end you will feel cheated as nothing really happens in the 8 hours of screen time. The characters felt fake, the story felt fake, and when a conundrum arised it was solved by some contact he had. Average acting all across the board with the exception of Veer Aryan who plays the passport maker quite convincingly.
Neeraj Pandey generally does a good job (like special ops 1, 1.5) but in this one it felt like he did not have his skin in the game. Below average watch best to skip, there are better things to watch elsewhere.