Movie Review: Irrfan Khan’s ‘Blackmail’
Movie Review: Blackmail
Rating: 3/5
Director: Abhinav Deo
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Divya Dutta, Kirti Kulhari, Omi Vaidya and Arunoday Singh
Dev (played by Irrfan Khan), is being cheated on by his wife played by Kirti Kulhari. One day he finds his wife Reena in bed with another man. But instead of killing his wife or killing her boyfriend, Dev settles down for a more practical revenge. He decides impulsively to blackmail the other man. As reflecting on the title of the film, Dev secretly starts blackmailing which in turn leads to another round of blackmailing.
Abhinav Deo’s Blackmail offers several similar moments to cherish and celebrate. The Delhi Belly director is back with yet another black comedy and he has a novel story and some wonderful actors – Irrfan Khan, Divya Dutta Kirti Kulhari and Arunoday Singh. Follow Spotlife Asia for the latest Entertainment and Lifestyle news.
Irrfan Khan pulls off the role of a blackmailer effortlessly. In the film, his character has a dry, loveless, and uninviting domestic history. Irfan carried the role really well. The supoorting cast of the movie has done justice as well. Prabha Ghatpandey as Anuja Sathe – Dev’s opportunist colleague and Pradhuman Singh as Dev’s confidante in his office are good. While on the other hand actors Kirti Kulhari, Arunoday Singh, Pradhuman Singh Mal and Gajraj Rao also showcased their good performances.
Abhinav creates a side track in the film with Dev’s boss, essayed by Omi Vaidya. He heads a company that makes toilet paper and this is just one piece of his wisdom about the product and its relevance: “Jis Desh me peene k liye paani nahi, waha dhone k liye paani kaha se aata hai. But then I realised it is about the touch… of hands. So we have made our product super soft,” Omi says right before asking his employees to rub the paper on their cheeks to feel it!
If there is one thing that offers roadblocks in this otherwise fun ride, it is the slow pace with which Abhinav establishes his plot and characters. The initial one hour seems stretched as the story hardly moves in this period. It is only towards the second half that Blackmail picks up pace.
