Looop Lapeta Movie Review Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0
Star Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Shreya Dhanwantary, Manik Papneja, Raghav Raj Kakker, Rajendra Chawla, Sameer Kevin Roy
Director: Aakash Bhatia
Looop Lapeta Movie Review Out!(Photo Credit: Still From Looop Lapeta)
What's Good: lt captures you in its world so fast that it gets really hard to move even for a second from your seat, so sit with your munchies and drinks around!
What's Bad: This getting released on OTT when it could have been a heavenly experience to catch this in cinema halls!
Loo Break: If you leave your seat after starting the film, we just can't be friends anymore!
Watch or Not?: If you don't watch this even after reading this review, we just can't be friends anymore!
Available On: Netflix
Runtime: 131 minutes
User Rating:
Savi (Taapsee Pannu) finds out two of the most contrasting news of her life at the same time of being pregnant & her boyfriend is almost about to get shot by a mafia. Satya (Tahir Raj Bhasin), a gambling addict, gets 50 lakhs to deliver back it to his boss Victor (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) but he tries the shortcut to double that money. Eventually losing the money (technically not by gambling), Satya calls Savi to tell this and ask for her help.
Savi, after snorting some (drugs are injurious to your health, don't do it) runs towards Satya to save him, hitting a few objects & humans during her run. She gets in a fight with a taxi driver Jacob (Sameer Kevin Roy), who is mourning as his girlfriend Julia (Shreya Dhanwantary) is all set to marry someone else. On the other hand, Satya decides to rob a jewellery store to bring back the lost money in 70 minutes before his mafia boss kills him. All this happens 3 times for Savi as the first two times didn't go as she wanted to. But, what changed the third time? Well, that's what the film is all about!
Looop Lapeta Movie Review Out!(Photo Credit: Poster From Looop Lapeta)
Looop Lapeta Movie Review: Script Analysis
Having seen Run Lola Run (or Lola rennt in German), on what this film is based on, writers Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Pedgaonkar, Aakash Batia & Arnav Nanduri's masterstroke of 'desifying' this with the backdrop of the mythological tale of Savitri & Satyavan is one of the best tweaks I've seen in the history of adaptations. This falls into 'so similar yet so different' & 'THIS is how you rehash film according to your target audience' tiers of 'adapting films from world cinema'. From entering the film with a Goan song to capturing the highly saturated colours (and streets) of Goa like never before, you're transported to this trippy world created by director Aakash Bhatia within the first 5 minutes of the film.
Yash Khanna's cinematography is a visual form of orgasm for eyes & heart at the same time. There's so much happening with the camera, that at times you forget you're watching the same story for multiple times with little twists. Yash uses every trick under his sleeve including a masterful use of dolly zoom (even circular in a couple of scenes), a few beautifully shot camera rolling shots which are stitched into a montage at places and all this perfectly synced with the background score is all packaged in one symmetrical & stunning piece of art.
Yash also takes a leaf out of Michael Slovis's (Breaking Bad's cinematographer) book adapting the shooting techniques from the scene where Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman flies up in the air after taking a heroin shot for the first time. The film also contains probably Bollywood's best flashback storytelling sequence of all time backed by an extremely complex screenplay, in which you see the things happening in real-time with the characters which they're telling to each other through a phone call. It's so complex that midway through the sentence above, even I forgot how to explain what's in my head using just words.
Priyank Prem Kumar continues his fast-paced chopping and mashing technique whole editing after highly impressing me in Taish. Just as Run Lola Run relied heavily on on-camera work, background score and editing, this one too follows its footsteps raising the bar one level. What might seem a simple scene to you, might be stitched together as one including hundreds of small edits. There's a scene that starts with camera focusing on mirror reflecting two characters' discussion, slowly zooming in it to eventually get out of it; Looop Lapeta is full of mini-gems for people like us who are suckers for such details.
Looop Lapeta Movie Review: Star Performance
Some movies are destined to be designed for certain stars and this is one such film for Taapsee Pannu. Once you see her as Savi in the film, you won't be able to imagine anyone else doing the same with similar conviction. From the frustration of her character of losing her love to getting confused with the 'circle of life', Taapsee manages to master every single trait of her character. She owns every single frame she is in & this would definitely go in my all-time top 3 performances of Taapsee which were previously owned by Thappad, Mulk & Badla. This is yet another stepping stone for this impeccable actress who is racing towards the goal of becoming one of the most natural talents this industry has ever produced.
This is a 2-balls-2-sixes situation for Tahir Raj Bhasin after proving his unerring mettle of acting skills in Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein. He underplays Satya big time without crossing the lines to be a caricature. This film doesn't treat the extras as just a few other filler characters to fill the vacant space without the leads but gives each one of them an important purpose to alter the timeline of the story.
From the extras, Dibyendu Bhattacharya (Victor), Shreya Dhanwantary (Julia), Manik Papneja (Appu), Raghav Raj Kakker (Gappu), Rajendra Chawla (Mamlesh) & Sameer Kevin Roy (Jacob), all have delivered worthy performances. Dibyendu could've been used better but he justifies the screen-time he's alloted with his trademarked intriguing presence. Manik, Raj are Bhatia's version of 'Ramesh & Suresh' from 5-Star's ads and they carry the stupidity of their characters with an utter conviction. Shreya with a single monologue, yet again proves my point which I've been mentioning since Why Cheat India? of her having a shiny future in Bollywood.
Looop Lapeta Movie Review Out!(Photo Credit: Still From Looop Lapeta)
Looop Lapeta Movie Review: Direction, Music
Aakash Bhatia has created a film which despite other commercial hit movies defines a particular year for me, 2019 was Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, 2020 went to Ludo, Mimi owned 2021 and I guess I already have my pick for 2022. He takes an already celebrated script, adds his magic and replenishes it in an even more palatable and relatable manner. There are a lot of things happening in the world designed by Aakash, so many so even I can't recall what all I had to highlight praising his masterful skills of keeping me intrigued from frame zero up till rolling credits.
Rahul Pais & Nariman Khambata's BGM play an as important role as the leading characters in the film to set the feel right. Maintaining a proper mix of rock, pop & EDM, the background score just levels up the aura of scenes even without any music (yes, that doesn't make any sense but so does the BGM because it's so good!). I'm disappointed they didn't use Nirvana completely but it's okay because it's playing on loop topping my current playlist. Beqaraar, Tera Mera & the title track are aptly used without causing any hindrance in the narrative. Again, a music album that I'll probably keep with me for a very long time just like this film.
Looop Lapeta Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, Looop Lapeta is a lot more than being an adaptation of yet another international film. It not just touches a technical peak but is also backed by an extremely strong story & memorable performances. A visually appealing, soul-satisfying experience for all the nerd cinema lovers and a well-made, intriguing thriller for everyone else.
Four stars!
Looop Lapeta Trailer
Looop Lapeta releases on 04 February 2022.
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