Movie Review: Ugly

Directed by: Anurag Kashyap

Starring: Ronit Roy

                 Rahul Bhat

                 Tejaswini Kohlapure

                 Surveen Chawla

Language: Hindi   

Run Time: 128 Minutes

Ugly a much awaited movie from the maker of the movie that made its place despite of being one of its own kind "Gangs Of Wasseypur", undoubtedly we really waited for the next one from Anurag Kashyap and "Ugly" it is. What is also special about this movie is it was the first film screed at the 2014 New York Indian Film Festival and screened under Directors Fortnight section at 2013 Cannes Film Festival.  It released late as Anurag still fights the court case since 2013 for this movie, against putting the line "smoking is injurious to health" when an actor smokes in his movies.

Ugly is a story not less complicated than his previous movies and this is one thing Anurag should be credited for, his experiments with twisty scripts. A girl child "Kali", the daughter of Shalini - a forced to be a housewife (played by Tejaswini Kohlapure) and the step father Shoumik - an aggressive and honest police officer (Ronit Roy) gets kidnapped and as evident from the trailer, it is a story into finding her. The movie begins with Shalini trying to commit suicide but is interrupted. She is portrayed as a depressed woman, dominated by her husband who rules her life but has no interest in her. Kali is picked up by her genetic father Rahul (Rahul Bhat) as is she every Saturday for a movie. Rahul is a struggling actor who though having tried his hand at acting for a lot of years in the film industry hasn't made it big. He struggles with poverty and debt. When he stops at his friends place who is a casting director Chaitanya (Vineet Kumar Singh), he leaves Kali in the car and goes upstairs. When his friend reaches his place  he tells her Kali wasn't in the car. They try searching for her in the nearby vicinity, find a guy with her phone who in a traffic accident as they try to chase him. 

The matter goes to the police and Ronit Roy keeps a tab on each suspect as he goes into the wild goose chase. The story then moves as Chaitanya tries to cash in the situation by making calls as a kidnapper. One isn't sure whether its him or Rahul's latest girlfriend a small time actress played by the hot Surveen Chawla. One sways through the past when Rahul and Shalini were together, how they split up, her ending up with Shoumik who had loved her since college. It reflects how things change with situations, money and human needs as each character's true colors slowly zoom into the front. Each character has done a phenomenal job, especially Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kohlapure and Rahul Bhat who as leads couldn't have been better.  

The best thing about story isn't just about finding her but finding the truth about each character and to what extent each one goes in a situation as grave as this. The idea of course is extrapolation into human psyche under extreme conditions, which is unpleasant and "Ugly". The meaning of the film title justified at the end in so many ways if not co-incidence is a genius. The film aces in terms of script and could be watched more than one time. Another great twisty tale from Anurag Kashyap that would engage you.  Highly recommended. 

Rating: 4/5