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Gumraah movie review: Keeps you hooked till the end
What : Gumraah - This is probably the third "Gumraah" in the annals of Hindi cinema. The first one was the 1963 BR Chopra directed Ashok Kumar-Sunil Dutt starrer followed by the Mahesh Bhatt directed 1993 thriller with Sanjay Dutt and Sridevi in lead.
The 2023 Gumraah is a smart and stylish crime thriller that plays out as a police investigation procedural on a murder case where there are two prime suspects who happen to be lookalikes!
Gumraah movie synopsis
Remake of the 2029 super hit Tamil film Thadam, Gumraah directed by Vardhan Ketkar starts off with a brutal murder in a rainy night and in no time Arjun( played by Aditya Roy Kapur) is arrested by the police based on pictorial evidence.
SI Shivani Yadav (Mrunal Thakur)who is assigned the case is baffled when another suspect emerges who happens to be Arjun's doppelganger. This also jeopardizes the grudge full ACP's plans (Ronit Roy) to punish Arjun before his retirement as he has a previous score to settle with the alleged convict.
With no breakthrough through DNA Sample test or finger print, it becomes a tough nut to crack even though the relationship between the look alkies is established through their individual back stories.
I haven't seen Thadam and deliberately stayed away from it as I wanted to examine Gumraah without any bias. Ketkar and co-writer Aseem Arora give it a smart and stylish treatment with dollops of intrigue that keeps you hooked till the end.
The concrete landscape of Gurgaon and the darker alleys ripe with theft, con and gambling get gorgeously lensed under cinematographer Vineet Malhotra. What the film misses is the rawness and intensity that might have elevated it to a few notches higher.
Constantly reminding you of Dhoom-3, Gumraah's protagonists Arjun and Suraj are sincerely interpreted by Actor Aditya Roy Kapoor and they play out as the Ghost and the Darkness. While the city bred Arjun is more believable, Kapur is not quite convincing as the crook Suraj.
Mrunal Thakur is one-note and devoid of variations. Did she even smile for once in the film? I found Vedika Pinto (of Operation Romeo fame) very charming and vivacious in the cameo. The quintessential cynicism enshrouds Ronit Roy's ACP Dhiren Yadav which has been the actor's archetypal role. Indresh Mallik of 12/24 Karol Bagh does a good job and Deepak Kalra as Chaddi is interesting to watch.
I go with 3 stars out of 5 for Gumraah. I went with minimal expectations but was pleasantly surprised.
Gumraah is produced by T Series and Cine1 Studios and running at theatres near you.
Ahwaan Padhee, is an IT Techie/Business Consultant by profession and a film critic/cinephile by passion, is also associated with Radio Playback as well, loves writing and conducting movie quizzes. More By Ahwaan Padhee