ablazethoughts

Here's the main gripes that I see people having with this 2019 movie on Netflix:- 1 - It is slow 2 - Nothing happens 3 - It is so boring And the issues which are mentioned here I think stem from a farcical understanding of the movie itself. People went in expecting horror and pure sci-fi with gorgeous visuals. Nobody saw the cerebral and emotional onslaught it's meant to be. In short, this movie is definitely not for the Indian masses (leave them to their Salman Khan action flicks).

That being said, the movie itself is a complete detraction from the genre movies that the Indian film industry produces. Do NOT expect Sci-fi visuals and lasers going *pew* *pew*. The closest description for this movie would be to Moon (2009, starring Sam Rockwell). This movie takes heavy inspiration from sci-fi classics like "Star Wars", "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Contact". Furthermore, the story itself is completely based on the Indian Mythos of Rakshas and Humans. Drawing an allegory to the split in society that we have when there should be unity.

The movie starts off with a fascinating premise, but delves more into philosophical aspects of the being and memories. It touches upon humanity's need to have a legacy and our collective ideology of life continuum. It is a very deftly made movie, the camera angles are reminiscent of Moon. And the lighting as well as the sound design are based off of 80s retro theme. If you are a fan of synth, you will know what I am talking about. The characterization is a bit shallow and difficult to grasp since a lot of new concepts are introduced really swiftly. However, if you pay attention and follow the story, the meaning and dilemmas really smack you over the head. If you are a fan of sci-fi indie genre which has movies like "The Man From Earth", "Europa Report", "Ad Astra"... This will be right up your alley.

There are a couple of shortcomings as well, this being the pacing of the movie, which tends to focus on things that are not important to the plot. This really throws off the pacing and can get boring at times. There are also certain moments where the plot tends to wander and not understand where to focus.

Apart from the plot, this movie is a class apart in Indian cinema and has the amazing music/visuals for the type of theme or genre it is going for (80s indie Sci-fi). Very happy to see indian cinema catapult itself into niche genres with adept skill.

Sometimes a movie comes along that causes a revolution in film history. A movie that people aspire to copy from and is talked about for the better half of a century. A movie which gets embedded in cultural history, and influences a whole generation. It stands as a symbol of pure art and culture, portraying the beauty, that is cinema.

This is not that movie. This is an ego-trip, following the need to present a spectacle to a spectacle-hungry audience which has never needed anything philosophical or intellectual. For such an audience, a simplistic plot and beautiful visuals are needed, which this film caters to. But beyond that, we cannot be persuaded to find any relevance of such an endeavor. The ideas and people get lost behind the purported veil of glamor and show. This leads to a disconnect from the characters themselves and we are left with a pot boiler which fizzles out before it even heats up. It'll leave you wanting, nay, craving to know the end and you will shell out even more of your money to follow it through. *sigh* The times we live in.