Release Date: 26th December 2014
Starring: Ronit Roy, Rahul Bhatt, Tejasvini Kolhapure, Vineet Singh, Siddhanth Kapoor
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Duration: 2 hours 8 minutes
While the world out there is busy skirmishing the hundred crore battle, there is one director who is constantly trying to adduce the raw elements of the dark human nature on celluloid. To be able to unravel a gore reality with profound mastery is only the capability of a man who understands the potential of cinema and is bold enough to move away from the mainstream Bollywood, Anurag Kashyap! We have known Anurag for his dauntless style of direction which has always earned him appreciation from the critics. Two years after Gangs of Wasseypur, he is back with yet another masterpiece called Ugly!
Plot: A ten-year old daughter of a struggling actor goes missing in Mumbai. The girl’s mother is a whiskeyed-out lady who is married to a chauvinist policeman. Ugly trails their desperate struggle to find their daughter that unravels a gore reality.
Performances: Ronit Roy delivers one of the most enthralling performances of his career. He is the man with a robust persona of a dominating male. With a pitch-perfect emotional control, he completely takes over the film.
Seen after almost a decade, Rahul Bhatt seems to be in a good form. He acts brilliantly as a bashed up struggling actor who loves his daughter unconditionally.
Vineet Singh, who was also seen in Bombay Talkies last year, does a good job in a supporting role.
Tejasvini Kolhapure manages to bring out the actual pain of a battered wife with finesse. The hollowness of her character has been brought out beautifully.
Surveen Chawla and Siddhanth Kapoor seem to be dwindling through the film. Their characters seem to be more forced ones.
Music: As an intense thriller drama the film does flourish itself on the musical front. The songs included in the movie are in juxtaposition with the dark theme and so can be avoided listening to.
What’s Good: A dark insight of the human greed leaves you stunned with a painful guilt. The rawness of its content and the originality of its characters bring out the cinema noir at its best. Every character has a concealed identity. A tight narration with a slow pace builds up enough suspense to keep you glued until the very last scene. The climax hits the bull’s eye in bringing out chills to your body.
What’s Bad: The film is too raw in its form and deals with the ugly truth of our lives, therefore, it is not meant for those with a weak heart. The pace is slow for a grim movie that runs for two hours.
Ugly is an unapologetically dark film that rips off your soul with its bareness. Each and every character in the film is disgusting and intriguing at the same time. The film brings forth the depravity of human greed that makes us loose greater things in life while we are busy letching for destructive baits. We have seen enough exemplars of Anurag Kashyap’s awe-inspiring potential, nonetheless, Ugly turns out to be the finest version of his forte. It is definitely not for the weak-hearted souls who are too frantic to confront the ugly truth. Ugly may not be the ideal film to watch this Christmas, but it is definitely a brilliant piece of work that should not be missed.
Verdict: Skip watching the film if you are not strong enough to be subjected to an ugly scenario that that evokes intense feelings.
Rating: ****
