Pune-52

The strangest film so far that I've seen in the Pune Festival is Nikhil Mahajan's PUNE 52 (52 refers to a lower class area of Pune. Beginning as an ordinary detective film set in 1992, the year of India's economic liberalization, it finally appears as if someone had shuffled the scripts of VERTIGO and FATAL ATTRACTION together and then ordered a hasty Susan Sontag re-write to achieve a further lack of clarity.

After the first half, when the hero wakes from a nightmare (as is typical in Hindi films) we release than some of the events we have witnessed never really happened. But did he kill or not kill the woman who pretends to be the wife of the construction magnate who he was originally working for?

There is one excellent moment, with the would be wife standing almost in silhouette against the white light coming through the open door of his home with the detective' wife in lighter tones against the dark door, but the differences (or similarities) are never again fully realized. To describe the twists and turns of the plot would be a disservice, if not impossible, but it is necessary to state that the growing affluence of the detective (concurrent with that of India's middle and upper classes) is handled in one fine special effects shot as walls seem to paint themselves and crude furniture morphs into chaise lounges, etc. The hero remains trapped in the end, but by what I am not sure -- either a political/economic nexus, his own weakness, or insanity. I will stop here, hoping to talk with the director in the next few days, who says at least that this is (although you might not know it) "not a murder mystery."

The story of a detective goes haywire in the first half hour and never grips the audience. Acting of Sai and Sonali is the only better part of the movie. The story is definitely not original but a mixture of classic western movies stories scrambled in together. Hence it cannot fit in the middleclass setup of a city like Pune. The contunity, editing and sequencing is simply baffling and confusing to the audience. Do not waste your time for such a jerky movie. A typical Hindi masala movie may entertain you better. The so called detective works clumsily and never like a pro. No private detective takes the snaps of the targets so obviously, coming just in front of them. Naturally, he gets caught and pays the penalty.

Great dialogue, different concept and great actors. The flow of the movies is great. 90s aesthetics is perfect. We need such stories.

We are still stuck with cheap comedies and cheesy love stories. Anything different confuses us and that's what other reviewers are also point to for this movie.

Protagonist is flowed and he unreliably narrates the story. Takes you on a ride.

Being a fan of the genre, sometimes makes it tougher form some one to make you feel for something new in it. I'm a die hard fan of Raymond Chandler, Andrew Vasch, Andrea Camilleri, Henning Mankell, Ian Rankin and so many more crime writers. And i'm a fan of women centric films and drama. And this film took both to a beautiful level. To make you feel for each individual character, their frustrations, their predicaments, their choices and yet leave you pondering whether they chose their fate or it was handed down to them through blind luck, is something a noir film ideally is meant to do. Akin to 'August Heat' or 'Farewell my lovely' or 'The Big Sleep' this story does the same. It ends up being a story of three people, the woman as seductress, the woman as life companion, the man trying to understand himself and be what society considers a man. It plays with archetypes and does a spin on them, yet then landing them firmly in their archetypal foundation again.

Even small touches like the wife and her mother's relationship, she's also a half product of her lineage and half product of who she wants to be, battling her own demons, quietly and then vociferously. She's the one i felt for the most. Great casting. Sonali Kulkarni earned a fan yet again, so did Sai and Girish. And the mother in law. Small nuances or each character. And big bold strokes for the story.

You would be forced to consider each one's choices, each one's luck, and whether they are or were a product of their choices or luck or which one in what degree.

Filmically the choice of hand-held camera-work, showing the woman as seductress backed by light, but with shadows on her face, the woman as creator backed by darkness but with light on her face and yet them being shades of each other and one and the same, some small but striking metaphors came through.

Great edit. Cuts on sound, cuts on music, cuts that evoke emotion, push it up where needed and cut it down where needed. Artistic job done by the makers, director, writer, cinematographer and Editor.

A gem of a marathi film. A gem of a film.

Curious to see what Mahajan does next, in a similar drama genre.

The movie has good cinematography, but that's the only thing that holds you to continue watching. * The scenes where the main character tries to take pictures openly and no one notices makes no sense logically. The movie ends abruptly, and there is no repercussion of murders. Lack of connection between hallucinations and reality that keeps you confused throughout the movie. The movie also feels like a drag after interval, lot of unnecessary story- line that adds no value to the movie Overall at the end of the movie, you do not feel satisfied. The upside of the movie is that both Sai Tamhankar and Girish Kulkarni gave good performances. Sonali Kulkarni was good as always.