Kuttey Movie Review: Arjun Kapoor, Tabu and ensemble give 2023 a very ordinary start
Kuttey Movie Review: The latest Bollywood movie starring Tabu, Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Madan, Kumud Mishra and others falls flat on many fronts. The storyline is neither too convincing nor intriguing or fresh. Despite a pool of acting powerhouses, Kuttey fails to impress as it relies on actors to do too much with very little at hand. 2023 has a very ordinary start in Kuttey, which borrows elements, and even its plot points, from Hollywood's popular caper movies. Director Aasmaan Bhardwaj, son of Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj, has bitten more than he could chew, and though certain scenes do stand out for their wry humour, overall, Kuttey is underwhelming and dull, even for its below 2-hour runtime.
The story revolves around a team of corrupt police officials who are working hand-in-glove with the local drug lord, played by Naseeruddin Shah. Gopal (Arjun Kapoor) and Paaji (Kumud Mishra) land themselves in serious trouble for working in collusion with a rival gang. Their problems compound when they are suspended from their jobs. Now, they must bribe their seniors to stay on the force. Kuttey brings together a group of half-minded cop characters and throws them into the midst of a grab-and-run situation. Ironically, none of the characters in Kuttey show the loyalty of a dog, to their profession or each other, and only thrive on high survival instinct.
Kuttey potentially has many interesting characters but the screenplay does not let them develop naturally. Thus the relatability factor is entirely missing. You can't find a single character to root for. The exercise of watching the film, despite the high stakes, then, seems futile. Right from the character introduction to tracing the journeys, the director has not gone beyond the obvious. The Naxal angle, led by Lakshmi (Konkona Sensharma), does not justify its presence in the already muddied plot. Apart from Konkona, Naseeruddin Shah's limited screen time is also a waste of epic proportions.
Arjun Kapoor as Gopal sets a raw tone for the film. Initially, he is complemented well by Tabu and Kumud Mishra. But all the charm seems to fade away soon with expository dialogue play. Even someone as convincing as Tabu seems a tad bit off when she is made to utter cuss words. The movie branches out in several directions but never really comes together to hit home. Radhika Madan and Shardul Bhardwaj's chemistry is all over the place. They walk down a path similar to the most cliched love stories with an equally predictable conclusion.
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In Kuttey, Vishal Bhardwaj's background score keeps shifting the tone of the film. The Marathi song Vaat Lagli sits well in the chase scene but not from the point of view of story progression. A similar fault occurs when the romantic score is played on the backdrop of Lovely's (Radhika Madan) doomed romantic story. The intermittent loud sound of gunfire drowns the story of any and all emotions and all we see are a bunch of despicable characters, one more than the other.
The movie attempts a new genre and that works in the favour of a young director like Aasmaan Bhardwaj. Before rejecting Kuttey as a rip-off of Guy Ritchie-style movies, one must appreciate the fresh attempt at storytelling in Bollywood. This genre surely has potential.