Ugly Movie Review

Caution: This is very Ugly, and not for the faint-hearted. Anurag Kashyap has come up with a gripping, intense whodunit which has intensity oozing from every character. As an audience it keeps you glued and involved, trying to piece the puzzle of the missing Kali (Anshika Shrivastava). The 10-year-old is the daughter of Shalini (Tejaswini Kolhapure) and her first husband Rahul (Rahul Bhatt). She is now married to ACP Shoumik Bose (Ronit Roy) and is more under house arrest than a house wife. She is suicidal. Shoumik borders on the maniacal! Rahul is an aspiring actor struggling to make ends meet and is also Shalini's college friend. So is Shoumik, who later marries her. The opening scene is abuzz with phones ringing as Kashyap gets down to the business of introducing his characters through various calls across the city, giving us a glimpse of who the characters are and who they are related to. He also throws open the clues early on, making us piece the puzzle together, rather than showing us totally new scenes unlike the director duo of Abbas-Mustan, a style which makes a mockery of film-making. Very subtly, he opens up various areas of the key characters as they go about in search of the missing girl. Till the interval, the film is mind-blowing. Methinks post that, Kashyap could have kept a tight leash on the length of the film. Every character's layer is peeled off in bits and pieces as the investigation continues. Though the end at first appeared not to be in line with the plot, I get a different view as I write the review [going back to the scene of kidnapping] trying to piece things together. And if a director can do that to the viewer, it has to be phenomenal. The cops just miss the plot. Ronit Roy as the maniacal ACP who is seeking revenge for a college rebuttal is fantastic. After BOSS, this has to be another feather in his cap. Tejaswini Kolhapure as the girl who marries her college sweetheart and then divorces and marries again only to get further into a mess is realistic. She captures her character well and stays within. Ditto Siddhanth Kapoor, Rahul Bhatt and Vineet Kumar Singh who plays Chaitanya. Surveen Chawla comes on screen for a few brief scenes and leaves a lasting impression. Hats off to Girish Kulkarni who plays inspector Jadhav. You can't differentiate his performance from a real cop. You have to see him to believe it. Brilliant! Yes! That's the best part about this movie: every character is made to stand out, regardless of the length of his or her role. UGLY is fast-paced and stays true to its genre. If only Kashyap had got the timing of his release right! Rating: 4.5/5

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