“Ugly” is an outstandingly “beautiful” film with director Anurag Kashyap in his true elements, showcasing the dark underbelly of Mumbai through the interplay of human emotions which cannot be typecast as either black or white since there are abounding shades of grey. The movie begins with a worn out, brooding, desperate woman jutting a revolver into her mouth, attempting a suicide & ends with shots of a fetid, rotten girl of ten tied to an abandoned scooter under the cover of a sheet. Both those images, raw, in the face kind are very disturbing indeed.
Anurag Kashyap made the movie in 2013 but the release got delayed courtesy his run in with the censor board, surprisingly, not on the contours of content but his apparent refusal to comply with statutory warning guidelines against smoking. He relented, eventually, under protest & released it on 26th Dec’14. Clearly, connoisseurs have a reason to protect since they were denied the luxury of seeing a delightful movie for over a year.
The screenplay is taut & the editing fine enhanced by excellent performances by actors who are not too well known. The film raises a toast to a new breed of actors who are as much gifted as they are wedded to the art. The main protagonist, Rahul Bhat (Rahul Varshney) an aspiring actor, rechristens himself as Rahul Kapoor, apparently to ride on a better brand name just like his illustrious predecessors. He marries Tejeshwani Kolhapuri (Shalini Bhat), a college sweetheart & has a child Anshika Srivastava (Kali). The love in the “love marriage” is soon dumped by the wayside as Rahul maniacally concentrates on his fledging career alone neglecting his wife, who seeks succour in liquor & financial support of her parents, which her husband resents. Neglect has the potential of creating rebounds. When, Tejeshwani encounters praise from her husband’s friend Vineet singh (Chaitanya), she doesn’t bat an eyelid engaging in a one night stand; she suffers from no remorse or regret, putting her daughter to deep slumber aided by a liberal dose of sleeping pills. Ultimately, she lands in the arms of Ronit Roy (Shoumik Bose), the current police commissioner & the erstwhile jilted lover, who puts her into a claustrophobic house arrest & even taps her phones. The stark paradox in that while she constantly explores for love she neither finds it in marriage nor affairs..
The movie gathers pace when Rahul picks up his daughter on a Saturday for a day out & finds her kidnapped. The first suspect is killed by a speeding vehicle & soon the thriller gains momentum with various stakeholders trying to raise the demand for ransom. The needle of suspicion is constantly twirling & that is the beauty of the script. Dark humour plays itself out especially in the scenes where Rahul, in a police station to report the kidnapping is interviewed by the police officer Girish Kulkarni (Jadhav). This is only a testimony of police indifference; police brutality is revealed much later.
The layering of human psyche & complex nuances of character are very well etched out. Ronit believes in “putting woman on a leash” & hence denies financial freedom to his wife & doesn’t partake in conjugal activities either but is an upright police officer who rebukes his wife for recommending favours to her brother Siddhanth Kapoor (Siddhanth) who is constantly on the lookout of ”quick rich” schemes. He dislikes Rahul but likes his daughter & makes a sincere attempt to retrieve her. Rahul, on the contrary, a man who is constantly worried about his good looks & acting assignments is however a doting father, nevertheless. Post the split with his wife he has moved on to have a relationship with an item girl, Surveen Chawla (Rakhi Malhotra). Tejeshwani is a loving mother who is keen to pay off the ransom demanded by the kidnapper to save her daughter but suffers no moral turpitude from appropriating a portion of the ransom amount to fulfil her own aspirations. Vineet is a dear friend who supports a struggling Rahul but has no qualms bedding his wife or demanding a ransom.
“Ugly” is therefore genuinely “ugly” since no body is pronounced innocent at the end. Unlimited greed, pelf, ambition, violence & power create an obnoxious cocktail that reeks of the degeneration of human values & spirit. Ugly in short is ugly beyond anything. Recommend viewing.
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