Ludo Hindi Movie Review

         The cast does the winded script justice. In a wrong twisted account of four relationships failing and facing huge problems, it carries shades of Mani Ratnam’s Yuva. This time there is a streak of comedy which actually proves to be chuckle worthy but disturbing the serious flow of a tale which is stated through the eyes of the narrator: Anurag Basu himself who talks about good and evil, Duryodhan and Pandavas and how there are no clear answers to abstract questions.

           Like the board game the squares and the dice is cast in the lives of four different persons completely unconnected to one another.  The central space of connect is Sattu Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) the local goon who has his den set up with the usual side kicks but at a designer locale. Most guys reach out to him for justice of some instant raw variety. The first couple is Aakash (Aditya Roy Kapoor) who is out to save the marriage of Shruti Choksi (Sania Malhotra) who is about to get married. The challenge is a blue film clipping involving Aakash and Shruti that has gone public. The carefree couple are on the road to save the marriage and track the source of the clipping.

           Pinky (Fatima Sana Shaikh) is happily married to Manohar Jain (Parutosh Tripati) or so she believes. She smells a rat and tries to get to the truth only to land in fresh trouble. Aloo aka Alok (Rajkumar Rao) who is madly in love with her would do anything to save her though each attempt is as futile and disastrous as the earlier one.

           Freshly employed Rahul Awast (Rohit Suresh Sarag) has no roof to live under and a job where he is constantly harassed by the floor manager. He runs into this nurse Srija Thomas (Pearle Maanay).

           Then comes the most morbid experience of Bitto (Abhishek Bachchan) and his estranged wife Asha (Asha Negi) and is fighting hard to get to seeing his daughter Ruhi.  He runs into Minnie (Inayat Varma) who plans a kidnap to garner the attention of her busy parents. All at some stage run into Satto Bhaiya who himself is on the run.  He in turn is hospitalised under the care of nurse Kutti Latha (Shalini Vatsa).

           In a crisis cross of the characters and their fate, Anurag tries to hard sell the tale of how there is a streak of evil in most of us and how we are all on the run. Its bright spots notwithstanding the narrative is tedious and you are required to follow it up carefully. The past present delineation is often confusing.

           Most of the actors in this heavily cast film perform well, except for Rohit Suresh who looks stoned. Fatima Sana Shaikh too has a single expression thorough the run of the narrative. Noteworthy are the cameos from the likes of Pearle Many, Shalini Vatsa, Ishtiyaar Khan (as the Inspector). Rajkumar Rao tries his best to be a Mithun fan and would being honest to himself agree that this is not among his better outing. Aditya Roy Kapoor is out again as the jilted lover. Yet again a very charming warm performance from the actor who surely deserves more and better. After a sabbatical Abhishek cries for attention.  His is the most intense. The film is worth seeing for his performance and that of Aditya Roy Kapoor.

           Otherwise Ludo is but a board game trying to push larger than life tales that some how fail to take off.

L. Ravichander.