Ludo is life! Life is Ludo!
Whether you win or lose in Ludo, the ultimate goal for every player is to get all their 4 tokens past round one and to the finish line without being eliminated in the process by the opposing teams. There are 4 color teams which are yellow, red, green, and blue.
Each story is coded by color and how the game plays a major role in those stories. The characters from each of those 4 stories cross paths with each other and the cause of that is through one major character, a crime boss named Rahul Satyendra Tripathi a.k.a Sattu.
Yellow: Akash Chauhan, a ventriloquist and stand-up comedian and his ex-girlfriend, Shruti Choksi who is getting married in 3 days find out that they were taped while having sex and their video ends up on the internet. Before getting into any more trouble, Akash and his lawyer brother get help from Sattu to remove the video and along with Shruti to find out where the sting was operated.
Red: Batukeshwar "Bittu" Tiwari just got out of jail but is having trouble adapting to normal life since his wife and daughter have moved on. His wife has a huge debt that needs to be cleared by Sattu. Mini is a six year old girl who is fed up by her parent's attention so she stages her own kidnapping with Bittu being the abductor after meeting. Bittu see this as an opportunity to use the ransom to pay the debt. Bittu looks at Mini like his own daughter and develop this strong bond.
Green: Pinky suspects her husband is having an affair but he gets arrested for the murder of a builder who was actually killed by Sattu. Pinky takes help from her school friend Alok Kumar a.k.a Aloo, a die hard Mithun fan who runs a diner along with his former gang buddies. She asks Aloo to help get her husband out of jail by first having to pay money to the mistress who her husband was having an affair with so she can give her statement to prove his innocence and takes shortcuts to get that amount of money.
Blue: Rahul Avasthi is a salesman who always faces reprimands from his boss and Sheeja Thomas, a Malayali nurse who is often teased by her colleagues for not knowing Hindi. Rahul comes home and witnesses a dead body in front of him. That body belongs to the builder that Sattu killed. He gets kidnapped by Sattu and is taken to his den which explodes in the process. Rahul and Sheeja meet while being transported in an ambulance with the crime boss on the gurney. The vehicle crashes, both Sheeja and Rahul dump Sattu in a lake even though he survives, and flee with his money. So now they're on the run.
Anurag Basu as the director and DOP of the film decided to introduce a similar way of storytelling just like his previous film Life in a Metro. Basu's concept is loosely based on the board game Ludo and how opposing teams cross paths.
The key point of the narrative was to immediately see the crossing of each story but this one was a bit all over the place. I don't get the idea of one story happening while characters from the other story appear in the background. Cross sequences will just make a story dry and out of context. The dialogues where whimsical and funny which can make the audience chuckle at times but the story was just a slight mess. The predictability of the story grew quite a lot at times but compare it with Jagga Jasoos, this one stands out much more than his previous film. It wasn't on the levels of boredom and this one will keep you on the edge of your seat. It was still a smart idea to use Ludo as a tool to tell a Black Comedy story.
There is a specific sequence throughout the film where Anurag Basu is narrating the story of the film to Rahul Bagga through a game of Ludo and walking through each engaging scene explaining the effects and fates of each character.
Yellow: Aditya Roy Kapur is potentially getting somewhere and his performance was earnest in a way that his ventriloquism will keep you entertained. Sanya Malhotra was very energetic and humorous but her acting didn't have much engagement. Their love story and chemistry were the achilles heel of the film.
Red: Abhishek Bachchan implemented the role of a former gangster perfectly if you take his character Lallan Singh from Yuva but his characterization barely came out and his command of speaking was very low. Inayat Verma performed flawlessly as Mini and she was very sweet and cunning throughout the movie. The bond between both the characters is what saved the narrative but the fate in the end became a compromise. Asha Negi's debut as Bittu's ex-wife still showed hope and she has potential of becoming a good actress
Green: Rajkummar Rao was the true winner of this film and his performance as the Mithun fan diner owner managed to set a new standard. He was funny and he nailed the foul language as well as his dance moves. Fatima Sana Shaikh plays Pinky Jain really nicely and her precision was watchable as a mother
Blue: Rohit Suresh Saraf had a very lukewarm performance as a runaway salesman as he barely spoke although he delivered a few dialogues. Pearle Maaney's performance was flat and very ordinary. She spoke a few dialogues in English and Malayalam throughout the film but she failed to add anything.
Pankaj Tripathi as Rahul Satyanand "Sattu" Tripathi managed to nail every aspect in the book. He was dark, gritty, engaging, funny, and stood out amongst the crowd as the best performance after Rao. The Nurse Kutty also performed well who helped in Sattu's recovery as well as developing a romantic connection with him.
Music is the only concerning factor even though Arbaad Barbaad is a good track but the standards of Pritam's magic is slowly deteriorating and it is lacking the rhythm to make the album enjoyable.
The the song "Qismat Ki Hawa Kabhi Naram, Kabhi Garam" which was both the murdered victim and Sattu's favorite song. This kind of did add a new vibe to this anthological black comedy.
Cinematography was also done by Anurag Basu as well as Rajesh Shukla. They did a good job with the visuals and it made the film very colorful and the serenity was solace.
Overall, The only tokens that stay in their spot and aren't playable are the sub-par narrative and Music. The active playing Tokens (Acting, DOP work, Direction, and characterization/humor). This is a game you won't regret! Despite its minor loopholes, this one is watchable.
3/5 - Wish this released in cinemas
Streaming on Netflix
Whether you win or lose in Ludo, the ultimate goal for every player is to get all their 4 tokens past round one and to the finish line without being eliminated in the process by the opposing teams. There are 4 color teams which are yellow, red, green, and blue.
Each story is coded by color and how the game plays a major role in those stories. The characters from each of those 4 stories cross paths with each other and the cause of that is through one major character, a crime boss named Rahul Satyendra Tripathi a.k.a Sattu.
Yellow: Akash Chauhan, a ventriloquist and stand-up comedian and his ex-girlfriend, Shruti Choksi who is getting married in 3 days find out that they were taped while having sex and their video ends up on the internet. Before getting into any more trouble, Akash and his lawyer brother get help from Sattu to remove the video and along with Shruti to find out where the sting was operated.
Red: Batukeshwar "Bittu" Tiwari just got out of jail but is having trouble adapting to normal life since his wife and daughter have moved on. His wife has a huge debt that needs to be cleared by Sattu. Mini is a six year old girl who is fed up by her parent's attention so she stages her own kidnapping with Bittu being the abductor after meeting. Bittu see this as an opportunity to use the ransom to pay the debt. Bittu looks at Mini like his own daughter and develop this strong bond.
Green: Pinky suspects her husband is having an affair but he gets arrested for the murder of a builder who was actually killed by Sattu. Pinky takes help from her school friend Alok Kumar a.k.a Aloo, a die hard Mithun fan who runs a diner along with his former gang buddies. She asks Aloo to help get her husband out of jail by first having to pay money to the mistress who her husband was having an affair with so she can give her statement to prove his innocence and takes shortcuts to get that amount of money.
Blue: Rahul Avasthi is a salesman who always faces reprimands from his boss and Sheeja Thomas, a Malayali nurse who is often teased by her colleagues for not knowing Hindi. Rahul comes home and witnesses a dead body in front of him. That body belongs to the builder that Sattu killed. He gets kidnapped by Sattu and is taken to his den which explodes in the process. Rahul and Sheeja meet while being transported in an ambulance with the crime boss on the gurney. The vehicle crashes, both Sheeja and Rahul dump Sattu in a lake even though he survives, and flee with his money. So now they're on the run.
Anurag Basu as the director and DOP of the film decided to introduce a similar way of storytelling just like his previous film Life in a Metro. Basu's concept is loosely based on the board game Ludo and how opposing teams cross paths.
The key point of the narrative was to immediately see the crossing of each story but this one was a bit all over the place. I don't get the idea of one story happening while characters from the other story appear in the background. Cross sequences will just make a story dry and out of context. The dialogues where whimsical and funny which can make the audience chuckle at times but the story was just a slight mess. The predictability of the story grew quite a lot at times but compare it with Jagga Jasoos, this one stands out much more than his previous film. It wasn't on the levels of boredom and this one will keep you on the edge of your seat. It was still a smart idea to use Ludo as a tool to tell a Black Comedy story.
There is a specific sequence throughout the film where Anurag Basu is narrating the story of the film to Rahul Bagga through a game of Ludo and walking through each engaging scene explaining the effects and fates of each character.
Yellow: Aditya Roy Kapur is potentially getting somewhere and his performance was earnest in a way that his ventriloquism will keep you entertained. Sanya Malhotra was very energetic and humorous but her acting didn't have much engagement. Their love story and chemistry were the achilles heel of the film.
Red: Abhishek Bachchan implemented the role of a former gangster perfectly if you take his character Lallan Singh from Yuva but his characterization barely came out and his command of speaking was very low. Inayat Verma performed flawlessly as Mini and she was very sweet and cunning throughout the movie. The bond between both the characters is what saved the narrative but the fate in the end became a compromise. Asha Negi's debut as Bittu's ex-wife still showed hope and she has potential of becoming a good actress
Green: Rajkummar Rao was the true winner of this film and his performance as the Mithun fan diner owner managed to set a new standard. He was funny and he nailed the foul language as well as his dance moves. Fatima Sana Shaikh plays Pinky Jain really nicely and her precision was watchable as a mother
Blue: Rohit Suresh Saraf had a very lukewarm performance as a runaway salesman as he barely spoke although he delivered a few dialogues. Pearle Maaney's performance was flat and very ordinary. She spoke a few dialogues in English and Malayalam throughout the film but she failed to add anything.
Pankaj Tripathi as Rahul Satyanand "Sattu" Tripathi managed to nail every aspect in the book. He was dark, gritty, engaging, funny, and stood out amongst the crowd as the best performance after Rao. The Nurse Kutty also performed well who helped in Sattu's recovery as well as developing a romantic connection with him.
Music is the only concerning factor even though Arbaad Barbaad is a good track but the standards of Pritam's magic is slowly deteriorating and it is lacking the rhythm to make the album enjoyable.
The the song "Qismat Ki Hawa Kabhi Naram, Kabhi Garam" which was both the murdered victim and Sattu's favorite song. This kind of did add a new vibe to this anthological black comedy.
Cinematography was also done by Anurag Basu as well as Rajesh Shukla. They did a good job with the visuals and it made the film very colorful and the serenity was solace.
Overall, The only tokens that stay in their spot and aren't playable are the sub-par narrative and Music. The active playing Tokens (Acting, DOP work, Direction, and characterization/humor). This is a game you won't regret! Despite its minor loopholes, this one is watchable.
3/5 - Wish this released in cinemas
Streaming on Netflix