Ever watch long drawn slow motion footage and wish it would go a bit faster and get to the meaningful bit but it never does? Kuttey. Aasmaan Bhardwaj, in his debut, takes the baton from his father and tries to make a film in that Guy Ritchie and Tarantino space with intermingling heist attempts and long drawn conversations. The choice of style of direction is the "keep the camera in front of the actors and let them have a go at it" approach which works wonders if the writing is taut, dialogue is engaging, and the edit is tight. Kuttey fails on all three counts, causing a cascading effect that makes the actors look bad. Stalwarts working so hard on their performances and being let down by the writing and direction is difficult to watch. A lot of the acting looks like it was meant for stage. Editing style and the way events unfold is very similar to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but you see it all coming from a mile away. The only positive to come out of this film is the title track wonderfully composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, sung by Rekha Bhardwaj and based on the Faiz Ahmad Faiz's Kutte. The rest of the music is good as well. Except the reused Dhan Te Nan track. The pneumonic plays throughout the film and was a bit disappointing because you don't expect recycling from "art" filmmakers. It's one thing to use the track for promotions and to evoke nostalgia but then to play it repeatedly in the film was a bit excessive. Overall a very disappointing film given the long list of exceptional actors, producers, musicians and technicians attached to the project.
