Dhokha , Redeemed  By Madhavan’s Presence

Dhokha: Round D Corner

Starring   R. Madhavan, Aparshakti Khurrana, Darshan Kumar and Khushalii Kumar

Directed by Kookie Gulati

Rating: ***

There is  much to be said about a hostage  thriller that seems to move  at  a breakneck speed. Dhokha, with a colonized  sub-title that says ‘Round D Corner’(the ‘D’ being a wave-out to the  young audience)  is the kind of  recreational afternoon pre-siesta  movie where you can’t afford to  blink.

Something  is happening  every minute.Some character  or the other is  doing a personality volte-face.If you  don’t stay  alert you may end  backing the  wrong horse.

Allegiances, loyalty  and relationships are  shuffled constantly.  Madhavan  is  the only one  who  remains  rocksteady. He plays a much-harassed  husband Yathaarth Singh whose wife  seems to be a  bit of a nutcase. She is held  hostage  in her apartment by a Kashmiri terrorist  named Gul(how original!).

 As Gul Aparshakti  Khurana’s  ‘Kashmiri’ accent keeps slipping off like trackpants two sizes  too large for  a morning jog. The  hostage  wouldn’t mind  the pants  slipping off. Before we can say, ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ she is making  plans to  run away to Kashmir with the terrorist while her poor husband is trying to put together her ransom money.

While in the compound   of the apartment block  husband Yathaarth and cop Malik(Darshan Kumar, fresh from the triumph of Kashmiri Files)fret over  how to rescue the former’s wife from  the  hostage  situation, up in  the apartment the wife Sanchi(Khushalii Kumar) seems to be  in ample  control of the situation. By interval point  she is seen seducing the terrorist  in her  home, the pallu of  her saree suitably  bunched  up to reveal what  lies  underneath.

Sanchi gives  a whole new interpretation to the concept of atithee dev bhavo(guest is God). The Stockholm syndrome has never seen a   more kinky interpretation in  cinema.

The giddyheaded  vertiginous  screenplay(Kookie Gulati, Neeraj Singh) is  an exercise in anti-ethics. The  female  protagonist is a borderline psychotic anti-heroine,  the male protagonist seems to be  very different  from what  he pretends to be, the terrorist is a traitor to his cause(I mean which selfrespecting Jihadi gets seduced by his hostage?) and  the  cop seems to have his own agenda.

 By  the end  of the  film I was  thoroughly confused about who was on which side. I  was  also very worried  about the future of  Indian cinema.