Movie Review: Cuttputlli

Plot

Cuttputlli, a remake of the Tamil thriller Ratsasan, revolves around a serial killer who abducts and murders teenage girls in the sleepy hill station of Kasauli. Arjan Sethi (Akshay Kumar), a struggling director with a fascination for serial killers, joins the Kasauli police force on his sister's insistence. Arjan's obsession with the killer's mind leads him to break the case, with the help of a no-nonsense SHO Parmar (Sargun Mehta) and his love interest, Divya (Rakul Preet Singh). The story is predictable but the screenplay and the way the narrative unfolds make for an interesting watch.

Acting

Akshay Kumar's struggle to be taken seriously by his superiors feels real and he is back in uniform with a much more restrained avatar than his usual fiery self. Rakul Preet looks resplendent in a simplistic role of a school teacher. Sargun Mehta delivers comfortably as a tough-talking top cop. Chandrachur Singh is aptly cast as Arjan’s wise brother-in-law. Among supporting parts, Hrishitaa Bhatt and Chandrachur Singh don't have too much to do, while Sujith Shanker as the school teacher Purushottam Tomar makes his character just as hatable as it gets.

Cinematography

With its cold and damp setting in a nondescript hill town, Cuttputlli gets the eerie atmospherics of a campy whodunit quite right. The action is natural and the blood and gore are kept to a minimum despite the abject depravity of the killings.

Direction

Director Ranjit Tewari and his writer Aseem Arrora build a real world around this whodunit that moves at a consistent pace with regular spurts of tension and thrill. Though there are times when the sheer naivety of the writing sticks out, the film is a sharp adaptation of Tamil film Ratsasan and manages to hold the audience's attention despite contrived plot points.

Overall Verdict

Cuttputlli is a predictable yet intriguing murder mystery that keeps the audience hooked, wondering what's next. Though it loses focus at places and digresses to not-so-great subplots, it manages to come back on track just in time. The climax is rushed and doesn't give any breathing space for the villain to explain his actions, but the nail-biting screenplay and Akshay Kumar's restrained yet watchful performance make up for it. Watch Cuttputlli for its sheer intrigue and tense plot.

Share this review