Directed by : R. Balki
Audience ki aankhein khol.. unka taste upgrade kar.. Entertainment ki quality badha, its your bloody job.
Spoilers ahead...
Inspector Arvind Mathur (Sunny Deol) reaches the crime scene of a building where a film critic has just been found dead having many cuts on his body including an inverted triangle drawn on forehead. When more such brutal killings of film critics takes place, Arvind realizes its work of a new kind of serial killer who kills critics. On other hand, a parallel track runs involving a florist Danny (Dulquer Salmaan) also a Guru Dutt fan, as he meets an entertainment reporter Nila Menon (Shreya Dhanwanthary). She is a huge bollywood lover and aspires to be a film critic.
It doesn't matter whether you have seen the trailer or how much you know about the story before watching the movie. R. Balki isn't interested in narrating the story in form of suspense, from the very first scene of Danny you can make it that he is the killer. The focus of screenplay stays on 2 aspects, one is the running commentary about Critics vs FilmMakers/Actors basically stating how important ethics are while critiquing a movie, and the other is the homage given to Guru Dutt's 'Kaagaz Ke Phool'. Both in my view is done very efficiently without going overboard.
There's no direct references or namecalling done but if you follow critics closely (not literally) then you would most likely be able to connect dots, for instance the scene where Danny calls out the critic for his 4 star rating to a movie stating he must have got good sum of money or a vacation package for some nights or a good present. Another scene where Nila refers to a dead critic telling whenever he would rate a film high would mean she won't like that film and vice-versa.
Another very important point the movie makes is about the personal attacks that some critics do and are still doing in the name of reviewing a movie thinking they have become God and can say anything they want even if it has no relevance to the movie. There's actually 2 points that Balki missed out keeping in the script that could had been part of Danny's frustration over some idiotic critics, one is the famous 'Tweet while watching film on the go' (Like how the hell are you watching the movie then?) and other is some critics I have noticed like to write a long paragraph on what people were doing in their show, their talks or even own life talks or just some other random stuff. Just because they didn't like the film they feel they have to entertain the readers with gibberish!
The topic of what matters more - Critics Rating or Audience Views (Boxoffice Results) is taken up subtly through a small cameo scene of Amitabh Bachchan (can there ever be a Balki movie without him?) where he without much hesitation chooses Boxoffice, however he doesn't deny that Critics are very important to be there in the film industry so that everyone can learn about their mistakes.
The screenplay of movie keeps shifting from dark to romantic to dark to dramatic and its never ending, usually I would not really enjoy it but here it had a very good effect and special thanks goes to the way music and background score is used. Many classics are brilliantly inserted, whether its the theme of 'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam' (Kaagaz ke Phool) filmed on Danny who is cutting a body in the style of using brush over a painting. The lyrical version is also aptly used when Danny just gifts Nila paper flowers on Guru Dutt's birth anniversary.
There's 'Sar jo tera chakraye' (Pyaasa) used in such a clever dark humor way over how Danny just fooled Arvind. Then there's 'Jaane kya tune kahi' (Pyaasa) which essentially forms the romantic track of Danny's life, however its catch tune is used throughout wonderfully. Also, I like how this very romantic track turns into a psycho-tic version when Dulquer sings the lines while telling the person he is about to kill what did that person write wrong in the review.
Sneha Khanwalkar's emotional version of 'Yeh Duniya' (Pyaasa) is very haunting with the visuals of Danny's past life and I really liked that they added the original version's famous lines 'Tumhari hai tum hi sambhalo yeh duniya' for a perfect end to the movie.
Its not just the old music but I found the original songs also very good at a time when we hardly get much quality music these days. The romantic track 'Gaya Gaya Gaya' is very well sung by Rupali Moghe and Shashwat Singh, and also beautifully picturised on Danny and Nila. Love those 2 small mistakes Danny does, firstly that direction of sunset through bicycle frame and then trying to have his routine two cups of tea by himself. Also, the track 'Mera Love Main' has some lovely lyrics, even though it is rightly not used in the movie.
I really don't know why Balki movies in past have always been mixbags, they would always have one underwhelming act to not make me love the movie. For a change, that doesn't happen in 'Chup'. The final twist is really good because for a moment I fell into the narrative that 'Oh no, is Danny going to kill her despite knowing she wrote fake review', but that foreign film copy idea was a super one. By the way I didn't understand the reference of Woody Allen, what was Balki trying to say there ?
It would have been a perfect movie if they didn't include Pooja Bhatt's character in the movie who helps Arvind in the case in just one way informing him that the killer attacks those critics whose review has a particular script with catchy lines. I rather would had wanted Arvind himself to brainstorm and learn about this aspect very much how he decoded the traingle on forehead or how the review lines are being brought to life in his killings. Or they could have let Pooja help him right from the 1st killing. Another thing that came to my mind was the reason behind Danny being like this, they went the cliched route of a troubled childhood, how would have it been if Danny did it because he was tired of the poor critic system, much like Naseeruddin Shah in 'A Wednesday' who took it to himself because he felt someone had to do something. I am not 100% sure if this version would have worked more or not, but it would have been less routine than the chosen flashback.
Dulquer Salmaan plays the serial killer exceptionally well, whether its the double personality or his growing closeness with Nila. Love his hilarious dialogue referring to 'Nalasopara ke baad agar Churchgate aa jaaye toh kaisa lagega?'. Shreya Dhanwanthary as a reporter again didn't really feel repetitive as her role plays more around her being a movie buff and also her chemistry with Dulquer is very good. I like the scene where she gets hyper realizing how her bravery act might actually result in her death.
Sunny Deol in a very restrained role keeping his anger limited to just one loud shout scene was also a delight to watch. I like how he slowly understands the case, afterall someone killing critics for bad reviews doesn't happen everyday. Saranya Ponvannan playing the mother of Nila was very sweet and lovely to watch in a supporting role.
Chup works for me both as a sort of tribute to Guru Dutt and also a very good take on how critics can misuse their profession resulting in ruining life of a filmmaker/actor.
My Rating : 7.5/10
.png "Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt in 'Top Gun'")
.png "Ayushmann Khurrana, Rakul Preet Singh and Shefali Shah in 'Doctor G'")
.png "Dulquer Salmaan, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Sunny Deol in 'Chup'")
