artist
Director: Merlapaka Gandhi
Cast: Nitin, Tamannaah, Nabha Natesh, Jisshu Sengupta
Remakes are difficult. They rarely come to the bar set by the original. Papanasam in Tamil could never match up with Mohanlal’s original Malayalam work, Drishyam, with Kamal Haasan, although both were directed by Jeetu Joseph. Let us not even talk about the Hindi (with Ajay Devgn) and Telugu versions. Another original in Hindi with Amitabh Bachchan, Pink, was miles ahead of the Tamil copy with Ajith. Somehow, the remake makers feel they owe something more or something better than the earlier versions, and they stumble. Or, they follow blindly, which might not be a good thing either.
Disney+ Hotstar has now offered a Telugu remake of Andhadhun – 2018 in Hindi by Sriram Raghavan and starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu and Radhika Apte. Although known as a black comedy, it had little humor. The climax was spectacular, and if memory serves me right it was set in Venice. Now, Andhadhun has reprized Khurana’s character of a blind pianist with Nithiin (as Arun) as Ustad. Unfortunately, the remake work wasn’t tight enough and went awry.
Helmed by Merlapaka Gandhi, Ustad also stars Tamannaah and Jisshu Sengupta. It’s almost a frame-by-frame copy of the original. However, while Andhadhun was wild and left a lot to the imagination, Maestro feeds you with a spoon and tries to explain every situation. There is a lot of potential in the story. It begins with Arun falling in love with Sophie (Nabha Natesh; Radhika Apte in the original). He meets her at her father’s bar and begins to play the piano there to attract more customers and help keep the business from going down. The ball gets rolling when he meets a former star, Mohan (Naresh). The actor asks Arun to give a private concert at his flat. This will come as a surprise to Mohan’s wife Simran (Tamanna, who steps in as Tabu’s place in Andhadhun). In the apartment, Arun sees a skeleton falling out of the cupboard. It has a horrifying story to tell, and it involves Simran’s boyfriend, Inspector Ravinder (Jishu Sengupta).
The plot twists from multiple angles, and takes many roads. and ends at one. The finale is played in Dubai, and the final shot needs to be shot carefully. It has something amazing to offer!
One wishes that Gandhi had taken the liberty to tighten the original narrative; Instead he adds more to it, robbing it of crispness and mystery. The performances are passing. Tamannaah is no match for Tabu, and while Nitin is good in some parts, Khurrana’s ability or his screen presence is not there.
Maestro might work for those who haven’t watched Andhadhun. But for those who have, a Telugu film may appear flat, especially when they know what a Hindi thriller is.
(Gautam Bhaskaran is a writer and film critic)
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