Charas: A Joint Effort

Timangshu Dhulia, in my opinion, is one of the more talented filmmakers in the Bollywood jungle. His debut film, Haasil, was quite an honest attempt at showing prevalence of student politics in northern India. It suffered from shoddy editing but the intensity of the director and the actors were enough to hold the movie together. Charas has the same intensity from the actors, particularly Irfan (my favourite). But it seems Dhulia is trying to make a noveau Hare Rama Hare Krishna, what with the choppy editing and the hippie feel to the film. There are moments in Charas when I was completely engrossed and then the next minute the tension falls flat. It was a classic case of so near yet so far.

Ok we live in a country where a masterpiece like charas is rated 5.3 on imdb. There is a monologue in the film, "this country is being joked with". But actually this country is a joke itself.

Irfan's best performance till date, uday & jimmy correcting their mistake of mohabbatein, the most detailed movie on indian drugs ever made. This is a pure classic in all aspects. Dhulia's best as a director. Released much ahead of time. Could be a gem for ott viewing. Released along with another classic Khakee & both failed to create that impact what it was made. But did they actually fail? No, Humanity failed in 2004.

Movie is quiet commendable. Has it's share of flaws but definitely not as depreciated by average ratings.

10/10 for writing But screenplay is debatable, where second half is dragging. Irreparable scenes of characters walking here and there are a few.

But writing, again needs special mention. As the interconnected multiple character world almost created a successful fantasy universe.

This movie is at par could be discussed with other crime bests of bollywood, like sacred games. But because of its imperfections, lags behind.

Movie could be skipped, as not a must watch. But definitely worth watching, if nothing better to do, with a little fast forward in second half is advisable.

It is not as good as Tigmanshu's previous endeavour- Haasil, which was well made, and almost flawless by his times. But this movie, provides a great trajectory for the growth of this director towards making great movies like Sahib Biwi series.

This interpretation for the time it portrays is somewhat what was, no complaints though. Beautifully captured.

From the cast and look of the movie, this seemed to be another one of those "harsh look at reality" films. This isn't your typical underworld/mafia movie, though. It looks at a new aspect of the underworld--drug smuggling in a specific region of India which supposedly produces the best heroine in the world. You're probably thinking, yeah, and that's supposed to make it any less boring? I actually thought this was an extremely intelligent film.

The plot becomes more and more complex and convoluted as the movie goes on.

It's an interesting search of a British botanist who has been declared missing ever since he entered the notorious jungle taken over by a gangster known as Policeman (who also has a very interesting story), where grows the deadly plant. Songs are lame, except for the title song. Most people will not like this movie, but if you're up for such a fare, you might want to check it out.