Raman Raghav 2.0: Showcase of depravity

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal, Shobhita Dhuliwala

Rated: 6/10

No one showcases depravities of the human mind as graphically as Anurag Kashyap. Raman Raghav 2.0 is an all-in-one show of the debauchery of the human mind through two characters — one a mindless, certified killer who kills for the heck of it, the other a uniformed law enforcer high on abuse, and not just of substance.

Together, the two script a racy psycho-thriller which stands still in some places as starkly as it runs amok with unimaginable and yet unstated violence in other. The mind games are splashed in blood and gore which the director skillfully makes you imagine more than he shows.

Though the film lets out a big and clear disclaimer that this is not about the 1960s’ serial killer Raman Raghav, it draws heavily from the much documented Mumbai marauder who infamously confessed to have killed more than 40 people on the streets as also to raping and killing his sister.

Here, Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Raman is cataclysmic, in other words brilliant as the unrelenting killer with dilated eyeballs covered in eerily brown contact lens. Siddiqui’s approach to the kills is stealthy, well studied and sparingly habitual and as he treads the slums of Mumbai, or the footpath dotted with the sleeping homeless, he brings you to the edge of fear without really throwing the blood at you. His killing instrument, an iron jack, trails him with curdling noise but it is his entire demeanour of coolness to crime and the philosophy of killing that makes you cringe.

Vicky Kaushal as the cop on this killer’s trail mesmerises too with his inherent negativities which, sadly go unexplained. Why would he be in the haze of cocaine, why would he kill with such impunity, why would he be so abusive of his girlfriend, are areas which needed to be fleshed out. But as far as Kaushal goes, he too does his best to show the worst.

The covert violence in the film draws you inexorably into the mess that’s on display in a dingy, smokey, unforgiving Mumbai where the darkness of its principle characters complements the shades given to the lanes, bylanes and slums of the megapolis.

It’s an uncomfortable film to be with, especially because it pulls you in without an escape.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 26 June, 2016