Game Over Takes Tapsee To Level Next

Game Over

Starring  Tapsee Pannu,

Directed  by Ashwin  Saravanan

Rating: ****(4 stars)

There is blood on the hands of  all  of us who  quietly watch  women and  children being brutally violated and then we  move on  saying, ‘It can’t be helped’

 This theme  of  helplessness sows the seeds  of  Game Over, a splendid heart-in-the-mouth  suspense thriller which turns the concept  of women’s empowerment  on  its head,  as the  female hero Swapna(Tapsee Pannu) tackles  the  demons in her own head before training her  guns on the  satanic criminals who  prowl outside her window  on  the streets  waiting for  their prey.

 Game Over  cuts its  plot into to neat  halves. In  the  first-half we see Tapsee, in her element from the  word ‘go’ ,  dealing with a  trauma in her past that comes  back to her every year on New Year’s eve. There is no escaping  the vicious circle of  crime and karma. Swapnalearns  about the inevitability   of  the  destiny  the hard way.

 There are some very hard  knocks  waiting for  the female hero as the  cleverly  written screenplay  moves into third gear in  the second-half .The director,unwilling to  format his  thriller  towards  its  predictable  finale, mixes ,mayhem and  introspection in  a  heady brew of  the vile  and  the venomous.  The  end-game  will have your heart  in your mouth as Swapna and her companion-househelp (Vinodini Vaidyanathan) grapple with  a trio  of masked marauders who break into their household and    would  stop at nothing to get their fill  of  blood.

 In the pulse-pounding  climactic cat-and-mouse , the narrative goes for the jugular  creating a havoc of sounds and  action  which somehow come together  in a display of societal  disharmony that   reminded  me   of  how  the  universe seeks its harmony in the chaos that we’ve created all around us.

Seen   in that sense the attackers in Game Over  , aptly masked, are the anonymous threats that all female professionals face in large cities. You don’t have to be rich or ravishing  to be  raped.  All that’s  required for a  woman to be  a  potential prey is  her anatomy which somehow  renders her excitingly helpless in  the  eyes  of  the  potential predator.

Game  Over  is a  striking  synthesis  of spiritual healing—a  tattoo and something to do  with the ashes  of  a crime  victim mixed with a  tattoo ink,  plays a big part  in  the proceedings—and  a plain and simple suspense thriller . I guarantee  you, the  third act will shake  you out of your wits.

Tapsee Pannu invests  completely in her  character, both emotionally  and  physically.With   this actress at  the helm we  find it  relatively  easier to accept  the protagonist’s  impossibly agonizing circumstances. Tapsee effortlessly irons  out the rough  edges in the plot making  it all seem  scarily  plausible.This is her  own Wait Until Dark and she  gives Audrey Hepburn a panic  run for her money.

 There are  no major  characters  besides  the heroine and her  domestic help, not even some  boyfriend  tucked away  in the background waiting to spring his ‘support’ to  the  female hero.. Tapsee’s Swapna is on her own when  the  first blow falls on her head. She takes on the  violation  in the belief  that paranoia , like many other violence-induced  ailments  in  our society, will  disperse when  you  take it on headlong.

 Little  does she  know.