There are films which engage you, and then there are films which expect you to surrender your smartness to the filmmaker because she/he’s always a step ahead than you. Andhadhun is one such film. It’s that kind of a movie where you can predict that something unpredictable is going to take place but it doesn’t give you even a single second to think of what next twist the director will play on you. The film will shock you, move you, and baffle you but most importantly it grips your attention like no other film has this year.
This highly engaging thriller delivers shocking twists every ten minutes in the movie, but none of them feels illogical because the psyche of its characters drives them. The human mind is capable of doing absurd things when faced with any problem, and this film shows exactly that. It also seamlessly blends humour into scenes that aren’t funny in the sense of the consequences they could have. Such tonal shifts could feel jarring in an average film, but Andhadhun is no average flick. It’s a cinematic masterpiece and a thriller for the ages. Another wonderful aspect of this film is that you never know when the climax is around as the film is always much smarter than what the audience believes. The ending is going to raise a lot of questions as the makers have gone for an open ending. It worked amazingly well as people are going to discuss about it, dissect it, create theories around it, and what not. It’s a film which is not going to be forgotten anytime soon.
Ayushmann Khurrana as a blind piano player gives the best performance of his career. His motivations may not always be pure, but you can’t help but root for his character. Tabu plays Simi, and the only thing I can reveal about her is that she is bonkers good in the role. Other significant actors like Manav Vij as a cop, Zakir Hussain as a hilarious doctor, and Anil Dhawan as a bygone era actor are tremendous in their parts as well.
But the real star of this film is the director Sriram Raghavan, who has delivered a film which is going set the benchmark for all the aspiring directors dreaming of crafting a perfect thriller movie. He executes every scene with so much cleverness that you can’t help but be left admiring his vision and what he manages to achieve. The pop culture references are also imaginatively included in the scenes which indicate the director’s command over his craft. Take a bow, Raghavan!