Ray review: Manoj Bajpayee, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor stand out in irreverent but inconsistent Netflix anthology | Web Series
It’s one factor to adapt the works of a author. However it’s a special ball sport altogether to adapt the works of a author who additionally occurs to be one of the crucial celebrated filmmakers of all time. Ray, the brand new Netflix collection based mostly on the quick tales of Satyajit Ray, is simply as uneven because the streamer’s different anthologies. And unsurprisingly, it’s the same old suspects who stand out.
In contrast to the latest Ajeeb Daastaans, which was introduced as a characteristic movie informed in 4 chapters — a transfer that made it susceptible to collective judgement — Ray is modelled after exhibits like Black Mirror and comparable anthologies based mostly on the works of Stephen King or Ray Bradbury. The ‘episodes’ are literally movies in their very own proper, linked solely by the thinnest thematic tissue.
Watch an interview with the Ray administrators right here:
The primary, a paranoid thriller directed by Srijit Mukherji and titled Overlook Me Not, is a few type of monument to cancel tradition. Ali Fazal performs Ipsit, a company shark who’s described by his colleagues as a human laptop. However an opportunity encounter with a former flame sends him spiralling into self-doubt.
What Ipsit does for a residing could be very imprecise; he’s considerably of a inventory CEO-type who’s at all times on name along with his assistant, and perpetually surrounded by a gaggle of admirers. Ipsit’s rise to the highest of the company meals chain, it’s closely implied, has left a path of casualties. However his self-obsession prevents him from even registering the women and men in his orbit. The premise of this movie — a couple of man coming to the gradual realisation that’s biggest superpower is fading earlier than his eyes — is undeniably intriguing, however the execution provides it an air of preposterousness that’s tough to shake.
Overlook Me Not is hauntingly shot by Swapnil Sonawane, a person who is aware of a factor or two about capturing Mumbai at nighttime; and the everreliable Ali Fazal’s efficiency is admirably reigned-in, however the script, by Siraj Ahmed, is simply too clunky to look at the story’s core themes with any type of depth. The ending, though flashily filmed, robs the chapter of all ambiguity.
However probably the most unmemorable of Ray’s 4 movies is not Overlook Me Not. That doubtful honour should go to Mukherji’s different entry, the Kolkata-set Bahupriya, starring Kay Kay Menon in primarily a one-man present. Menon is nice at taking part in unassuming psychos, and Bahupriya, through which he stars as an neglected make-up artist, provides him an interesting Joker-esque character to sink his enamel into. However as soon as once more, it’s the oversimplified execution and by-product storytelling that proves to be the movie’s undoing.
Thankfully for us all — Ray included — director Abhishek Chaubey involves the rescue along with his delightfully delicate movie, Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa, starring Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao as two males who meet on a rail journey, however can not seem to shake the sensation that they’ve seen one another earlier than. It’s a terrific two-hander that on paper should’ve learn like a chamber piece, however is given cinematic aptitude by Chaubey’s assured route and Niren Bhatt’s playful screenplay.
Chaubey depends closely on the performances of his two stars, sure, however isn’t afraid to stamp the fabric along with his distinctive sensibilities. There’s a thriller field high quality to the movie that Chaubey and his actors gleefully unravel, with assist from a few cameos that I gained’t spoil by revealing right here.
Greater than the movies of Satyajit Ray, whose fascination with trains even impressed Wes Anderson, Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa brings to thoughts two of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest rail-themed films — The Woman Vanishes and Strangers on a Practice. We’ve come full circle, in a manner; the prepare, because it have been, has returned to its station of origin.
Like Ipsit, the protagonist of Vasan Bala’s Highlight — a typecast actor performed by Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor — additionally finds that he’s dropping his X-factor. In Vik’s case, it’s a ‘look’ — a literal look that sends his followers right into a frenzy and forces critics to tear his movies to shreds. Like Chaubey’s Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa, Highlight additionally opens with a unusual title card — an idiosyncratic contact that randomly unites the 2 finest entries on this anthology, but additionally appears very arbitrary, stylistically talking, since Srijit Mukherji’s movies don’t tag alongside on the experience.
Highlight is, nevertheless, the perfect of the lot — it’s a social satire masquerading as a showbiz satire. “Are you a puddle or a sea,” Vik asks in considered one of his many moments of existential disaster.
Trapped inside a resort throughout a location shoot, he finds himself being overshadowed by a mysterious godwoman who strikes into the identical resort and has him evicted from his room. Performed by Radhika Madan, Didi, as she is affectionately recognized by her followers, is revealed solely within the third act, however her presence is felt all through its 63-minute runtime. Madan, working for the second time with Vasan Bala, is admittedly good right here, alluring and alienating in equal measure. I am fascinated by her option to play Didi like some Gen Z influencer who discovered in a single day fame on Instagram.
However the highlight, so to talk, is on Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor. That is his movie, and Vik is a advantageous addition to the rogue’s gallery of cult characters that he’s performed in his quick profession. There are lengthy stretches of Coen Brothers-inspired absurdity through which Kapoor is required to behave reverse skinny air, and faucet into Vik’s insecurities and easy attraction on the flip of a dime.
Highlight is an aggressively unusual movie in one of the simplest ways attainable, proper right down to its dreamlike ultimate stretch, through which Vik seems to amass The Drive. It’s dangerous enterprise, having a singular voice on this trade (and this nation), however Vasan Bala by some means wrangles his wild sensibilities right into a cohesive entire.
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Now, relying on if you happen to’re a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty type of particular person, a 50-50 hit-rate might both be good or unhealthy. It’s, subsequently, successfully unattainable to advocate Ray in its entirety. Nonetheless, the 2 most expressionistic entries on this lowkey homage are nicely value testing.
Ray
Administrators – Srijit Mukherji, Vasan Bala, Abhishek Chaubey
Forged – Ali Fazal, Manoj Bajpayee, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Gajraj Rao, Kay Kay Menon, Shweta Basu Prasad, Radhika Madan, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor
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The creator tweets @RohanNaahar