Raj Kundra Goes Back To Jail, With UT 69

Suresh Gopi-Biju Menon's Garudan Subverts Cat & Mouse Thriller Tropes

You might guess how Garudan, a tense investigative thriller, will unravel. But the cleverness of its execution will still leave you impressed, writes Neelima Menon.

Dir: Arun Varma

Cast: Suresh Gopi, Biju Menon

Playing in: Theatres

IF you are someone who earnestly watches films, chances are that you might develop an intuition when it comes to the possible twists and turns in mysteries. You can even guess some of the red herrings that are casually or deliberately planted in the course of the narrative. In that way, you know how Garudan will unravel, but it is brought together with a cleverness that leaves you impressed.

A college girl is severely brutalised and admitted to the ICU. Without much ado, SP Harish Madhav (Suresh Gopi) starts his investigation, and in seven months, they nab the culprit — who turns out to be her college professor, Nishant Kumar (Biju Menon). He is sentenced to life imprisonment and Harish, who is retiring, has been given a fitting farewell. All is well in the universe until Nishant reappears after his prison term to reopen the case. Is it that Harish who always had an impeccable track record went wrong? Or is Nishant playing a vindictive game? Directed by Arun Varma, and written by Midhun Manuel Thomas, Garudan cuts loose from that point, with several false trails thrown in.

(Garudan isn't on OTT yet. But other hit Malayalam thrillers are. Stream them using the OTTplay Premium Jhakaas pack at Rs 199/month.)

The core investigation is dealt with economically (smart writing). However, it is staged in such a way that despite what seemed to be a straightforward probe, questions remain. Primarily it’s a battle between two characters and they are ably sketched. SP Harish Madhav can be called a Suresh Gopi-esque cop trope: the righteous, efficient, no-nonsense police officer who takes (far too much) pride in his khaki. Thus proving that when it comes to donning khaki, he will never be able to exorcise the ghost of his most iconic cop character, Bharath Chandran (Commissioner).

At times one gets the feeling that maybe he has added a few lines on the spot to amp up the glory of a cop. So lines like “Once a cop, always a cop” sound like what Suresh Gopi himself earnestly believes about police officers. After all, he himself has confided that he gets a special energy when he wears the khaki. Having said that he looks like a spent force on screen. Take for instance the slice where a few gundas corner him at a tea shop as we await the ensuing fireworks. But that slyly placed stardom showcase lands futilely. And those constant assertions on duty, integrity, and khaki seemed like a postscript.

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UT 69: Raj Kundra Goes Back To Jail

The sole purpose of UT 69, can be summarised as Kundra wanting to show the world all the 'tribulations' he faced during his 63 days in jail, writes Ishita Sengupta.

Dir: Shahnawaz Ali

Cast: Raj Kundra

Playing in: Theatres

RAJ KUNDRA’S UT 69, which reads like a flight that will never land but is actually a recreation of the time the entrepreneur was imprisoned in 2021 due to his alleged involvement in an adult content scandal, concludes in a note that makes the intent of the film clear. Before the end credits roll, the screen goes blank and tearful music fills the air. This is the kind of aesthetic that is reserved for war films where after depicting what happened, the filmmaker reveals who and how many it happened to. This is the time when the stone-cold statistics take over fictional portrayal. In this case, a single line appears, informing us of the number of days Kundra was in jail for: 63.

It is a ludicrous moment, so absurdly funny in hindsight (and every sight) that it was the only time I laughed out loud. Prior to this, my reactions to the film ranged from looking away every time Kundra held his stomach and ran to the toilet as fart sounds played in the background, and looking away when Kundra walked about with a perpetual scowl on his face. But that particular moment, my resolve of not wanting to be broken by the film broke because (please, just) put it in the current social context. At the moment there is a lengthy list of incarcerated activists and scholars in India whose present reality looks like an inevitable future. Their bail hearings keep getting postponed and the reason for their imprisonment is vague. And here we have a wealthy man who spent two months in jail and has enough money to make a film on it and showcase his current contribution for other inmates. If nothing, this handed me the only lens one can and should view this film from to derive some amusement: as a satire.

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