'Ludo' Review: Anurag Basu rolls a hard eight in an absurd world

'Ludo'

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rohit Suresh Saraf, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Pearle Maaney and Inayat Verma

Director: Anurag Basu

Duration: Two hours 29 minutes

Where to Watch?: Netflix

Critics' Rating: 3/5

'Ludo' Story:

From a resurfaced sex tape to a rogue suitcase of money, four wildly different stories overlap at the whims of fate, chance and one eccentric criminal.

'Ludo' Review:

The game of Ludo is all about luck by chance. You have to be careful with your move and predict how can your opponent go wrong with theirs. Anurag Basu, who is also the narrator of the film, shows not only his directorial skills but acting prowess too. He has taken up a unique task of moulding a game into a movie with a bunch of incredible talents. During the lockdown, Ludo became one of the most popular games and people around the world connected virtually to play. Similarly, people of different walks of life meet at weird crosswords which is unimaginable in a bizarre world.

This is Anurag Basu's second anthology after Life in a Metro (2007) which focussed on love, extramarital affair, old-age love and more. But Ludo is all about Karma, luck, chance and fate. It shows us relationships are conditional, no matter how hard you try being in a denial mode.

Talking about the story, the only common link in all characters is Rahul Satyendra Tripathi aka Sattu Bhaiya played by none other than Pankaj Tripathi. The man knows the core of his talent and makes sure he strums the right strings to bring it out on the screen. A criminal who doesn't fear death because death fears him! Being a gangster, his followers are also his haters who are desperate to see him die. A retro hits lover, soft-hearted to a few, dangerous for many, Sattu makes people's life hell by falling into the pit himself. But he emerges as a winner every time.

The more you get into the movie, the better you realise that Ludo is all about Pankaj's character. His arch-enemy played by Abhishek Bachchan gets jailed because of Sattu and ends up getting divorced from his wife. However, Bittu (Abhishek) accidentally meets a little girl who wants her parents' attention and stages her own kidnapping. This has heavy deja vu moment from Yuva because Abhishek reminds more of his character from Mani Ratnam film. Also, Barfi where stickers from a book are used to make a 'kidnapping message'. In an attempt to show his rough and tough side, Abhishek delivered a performance which we have witnessed already 16 years back.

Coming to Rajkummar Rao, who plays a Mithun Chakraborty inspired unrequited lover to Fatima Sana Shaikh. Despite getting his heartbroken and being an emotional fool, he goes to any length to help Fatima's character. Rajkummar was at his usual best and knows his craft beautifully. He switches on from one emotion to another in no time and that's something which a true artist can nail perfectly. This was a new attempt for Fatima, who has shown her child-like quality despite playing the mother of a toddler. The actor can make you feel cutesy and gutsy at the same time and it is a good approach by her.

Aditya Roy Kapur and Sanya Malhotra's show how friends with benefits can go wrong at many levels. Someone shots them getting intimate and releases their sex tape on the Internet. Sanya who is set to have a destination wedding is an unapologetic gold digger who wants to live life queen size. But fate has something else in store. Aditya is a ventriloquist and is happy with his minimal lifestyle which is not what Sanya's character wants in her life. Both the actors have shown their romcom genre performances earlier and this was just delivered similarly but Anurag Basu style.

Finally comes Rohit Saraf and Pearle Manney. The Malayalam actor was stereotyped very well in this film with a nurse as her job and with poor linguistic skills by not knowing Hindi as well as English well. However, with minimal dialogue delivery, Pearle has shown she is composed performer. While Rohit, who has shown his work before in Dear Zindagi and The Sky Is Pink shows a good job here too.

Talking about direction, Anurag Basu knows how to shape up an anthology and make crossroad moments justified. He is one of the few directors who can credit for making a slow-paced movie and not making it fall flat. 

Anurag Basu made Ludo in a very comfortable way with thrills, dark humour layering the motto behind the plot. If stopped and thought about the film, it has so many lessons which Mahabharat taught us. The film will get on the head of the people who caught up with the mythological show's rerun on Doordarshan. 

The ace filmmaker managed to ooze out the talent of the bunch he cast with a story that can make you confused whether you liked it or not. 

Unlike earlier movies of Anurag Basu, music doesn't play a catalyst here and seems to be forced into the narrative. However, if listened to it as a jukebox, Ludo has a soothing album and Pritam Chakraborty deserves all the credit. 

'Ludo' Verdict:

Anurag Basu rolls a hard eight in keeping a whimsical attempt entertaining.