Aditya Roy Kapur in a scene from ‘Gumrah’
A crime thriller works when the foreplay is as compelling as the makers hold back for the climax. Here’s a murder mystery where the investigation meanders like a sudsy daily soap that keeps hitting a false note. Taking the title literally, Astray It quickly devolves into fake police stations, predictable action and slapstick romance. By the time it comes to this, faith in the scenery and the tour guide is lost.
A murder story where two suspects look alike in this adaptation of the Tamil hit thadam Inspired by an interesting idea that works well on paper because of its simplicity. The figures presented before the end credits show that the idea needs a body. But the way it is shown on screen, Astray Becomes a tiresome watch that lacks purpose. Director Vardhan Ketkar spends so much time in a boring build-up marked by boring dialogues and dull situations, that one loses interest in the outcome of the whodunit.
Read also:Review of ‘The Night Manager’ Hindi series: An explosive combination of style and substance
A young man gets murdered under mysterious circumstances on a rainy night and an enterprising cop Shivani Mathur (Mrunal Thakur) takes charge of the investigation. The needle of doubt pointed towards Arjuna.Aditya Roy Kapoor), who is already on the hit list of Assistant Commissioner Yadav (Ronit Roy). As Yadav sees the case as an opportunity to fix Arjun, Sooraj (Aditya in a double role) stammers into the picture, sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of the police and the audience. Along the way, Shivani develops her own prejudice and has to eliminate her arrogant superior and a clever suspect in order to find the real culprit. There are back stories that address addiction, mental health and misogynist pride, but none of them create any emotional excitement to engage with the proceedings.
Gumrah (Hindi)
director: Vardhan Ketkar
moldCast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Mrunal Thakur, Ronit Roy, Vedika Pinto
Order: 127 minutes
Story: A murder, two lookalike suspects and an arrogant superior, Inspector Shivani Mathur must overcome his personal prejudices to find the real culprit
Adaptation from Tamil to Hindi demands more than just dropping the names of cities like Saharanpur or the names of police constables who speak in Haryanvi accents. The entire emotional graph of the film needs to be translated and basic facts need to be known like Gurugram comes under the jurisdiction of Haryana Police.
Tired of lackluster writing, Aditya returns to his drab ways after a magnetic performance Night Manager. He tries to separate Arjun from Sooraj but ends up in a tone that feels like a put-on.
Even the usually efficient Mrunal Thakur seems to be going through the motions. It is only Ronit Roy who tries to inject some energy into the investigation but it is an emotionally flat exercise.
Gumrah is currently running in theatres.