A Blind tale
Sriram Raghavan’s latest movie, an official adaptation of Oliver Trennier’s French short film The Piano Tuner (2010), expands on themes previously explored in the director’s crime thrillers. The tone of Andhadhun is wacky and wicked, the pace as hectic as a late train trying to make up lost time and the characters amoral in a businesslike way as they lay claim to money that doesn’t belong to them.
In Andhadhun, the morality and tragedy that underpinned Raghavan’s previous crime thrillers Ek Hasina Thi (2004), Johnny Gaddar (2007) and Badlapur (2015) are chucked out of the window. The throwaway dialogue has a mordant wit that suits the material and precludes any sentimentality. There is a strong flavour of the Coen brothers at their peak, but also enough nods to Raghavan’s longstanding interest in the dynamics of the perfect crime and the hustlers and flimflam artists who populate pulp detective stories.
In a film about a musician, the players demand more attention than the music. The screenplay by five writers – Raghavan, Pooja Ladha Surti (who is also behind the sharp editing), Arijit Biswas, Yogesh Chandekar and Hemanth Rao – spreads out the often very funny black humour across the ensemble cast. Tabu is terrific as the slinky Simi, who takes no prisoners as she goes about her business. Tabu has just the right expression on her face when faced with impossible developments, and she is especially superb in her scenes with the hapless Pramod. The embodiment of self-obsessed movie stars with floppy hair and a virginal view of the world, Pramod is proof of Raghavan’s unerring ability to find imaginative ways to pay homage to classic Hindi cinema.
Ayushmann Khurrana initially seems to be an odd fit for the role, but he gets under Akash’s skin as the woes pile up. Akash is the only one in the room who isn’t getting the joke, and Khurrana has many solid moments that convey Akash’s giggle-inducing plight. He has a good vibe with Radhika Apte, who sheds the anxiety that has dogged her recent roles to turn out a deceptively casual performance.
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