It hit where it hurts

Nonika Singh

It’s a deadly game between extortionists, their hit men and the police. Many a film on encounter killings has been made but none that does a psychological analysis in the manner in which Monsoon Shootout pans out. In the beginning alone it says there are three paths; right, wrong and then the middle one. 

And like Talvar, which incidentally was made after   this film, it constructs different scenarios of the same situation. But whichever way the game is played out the end result is the same; gruesome death and collateral damage. 

Pegged at a snappy 92 minutes, the film builds each graph with equal intensity. It keeps you on the tenterhooks, especially in the first telling. Thereafter you relax a bit for you don’t know which version is for real. Yet, the grip remains intact. The film has a real surreal feel and at points the treatment is artistic even when splattered by blood and bullets.

The fish-market of Mumbai serves as a perfect space to place parts of the bloody narrative. Monsoon acts as a suitable enhancer and builds up the ambience that startles and intrigues. The seamier side of the maximum city throws up characters such as Shiva the menacing killer. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is, like always, competent in this dark forbidding part but doesn’t quite steal the show.

The film hinges more on the young police officer Adi (Vijay Varma), who is face to face with moral and ethical dilemmas early into his training. Understated and effective, he grapples with many issues and around his predicament ‘to shoot or not’ are woven varying outcomes and questions.

The most important one being; in a trigger-happy world of crime and ruthless criminals does anyone really have the time to ponder before pressing the trigger? Indeed, it’s a do or die situation. As the storyline reconstructs the same setting over and over, there is a danger of monotony seeping in. But the film remains taut, tense and suspenseful. 

Sadly, it is difficult to screen films that do not come riding on the shoulders of superstars (Nawazudin is the only star here). Even though the film was  screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screenings in 2013, it has taken  more than four years  for it to find a theatrical release in India. That one saw it in the morning show in an empty hall also points out how a film that treads a different path hardly finds takers. But absence of heavy duty star cast does not take away anything from this absorbing thriller.

Actors such as Neeraj Kabi as the police officer Khan and Tannishtha Chatterjee as Shiva’s wife are in complete form. Amit Kumar, who assisted celebrated director Asif Kapadia (he is also one of the producers), makes an assured debut. So never mind the time lag between the time the film was made and released, it is worth viewing. Especially, if you like your cinema to be a teaser, leaving behind a niggling question rather than offering a pat answer. Chew on this one.