Not really dangerous!. Review on Danger - Bollywood

First it was Chandni Bar, then there was 16 December and now…we have Danger. In short, we can say that Bollywood is slowly but steadily waking up to a broader concept of filmmaking. With young and suave directors willing to take on the risk of making films on non-routine storylines, Bollywood is soon turning bHollywood. A new revolution seems to be in the air and Danger is another small step towards this giant leap.

When the whole industry seems to be bubbling with long titles like HDDCS, HSSH, HADMRH, HDAPH, KHDBB, NTJNH, etc. a one-word entry like Danger does indeed stand-alone. Moreover, the film’s dark projection by its director also contributes to the viewer’s dilemma of ‘to see or not to see’. Neither does Danger have a crowd pulling star cast nor the routine dance and song sequences…but if 2hours and 4 minutes of pure noir entertainment is your idea of a good film, then Danger is worth a dekho.

To put it in the words of Director Vasant Chheda, Danger is a noir thriller. It’s the story that deals with the darker side of life. It’s about love, money, ambition, betrayal and success. Even though most of the elements in the screenplay project a very blunt side of life and human relationships, Danger is not a pessimistic film…

The storyline of the film revolves under a mere Rs.2 crores. The entire plot is about this sum of fortune that changes hands by the minute yet remains unspent. In this cycle, it inculcates a host of characters from a hardworking accountant to a road Romeo, from a lustrous keep to the dangerous underworld…but when it comes to a sum like Rs.2 crores, no one is actually irreplaceable…

Nainesh (Ashutosh Rana) is an honest accountant with an underworld don, Wasimbhai. He handles all the cash transactions of Wasimbhai and is also responsible for transporting important papers form place to place. During these procedures, he has to face constant life threatening attacks on his life from rival gangs and must also be alert from the cops. In return for these services Nainesh is accorded with a posh air-conditioned flat with all the possible luxuries that can be enjoyed indoors. One of these luxuries includes Unnati, Nainesh’s unmarried keep.

Unnati has been adopted by Nainesh some time ago and they’ve been living as husband and wife accept for the legal formalities. Nainesh is under the impression that he has given Unnati all the possible luxuries in the world including love and respect; hence she should be happy and satisfied. But despite such warm treatment from Nainesh, Unnati is unhappy about the relationship. For her, Nainesh and his work is a living hell. Just when she desperately wants to break free, she bumps into Saurav (Jas Arora). Saurav is a convict who has just been released from prison and he never wants to do anything that’ll lead him back to the cell.

Call it coincidence or sheer fortune; Saurav’s boss gives him a flat adjacent to that of Nainesh’s. As time passes, Saurav and Unnati get pretty entangled in an indecent liaison.

Unnati proposes a plan wherein she and Saurav can make a quick buck, but Saurav rejects the proposal, as he doesn’t want to go back to prison. But after certain persuasion from Unnati, he agrees.

As per their plan, they succeed in stripping Nainesh of Rs.2 crores that belongs to Wasimbhai, but hereafter their plan fails to take off as planned. One small shift in behaviour from Nainesh and the whole plot goes topsy-turvy. After certain interesting and intriguing sequences, Nainesh finds himself breathing heavily over the dead bodies of the main Bhai and two of his associates. This leads him to nab the real culprits Unnati and Saurav and a struggle for survival between them arises. This struggle is timely interrupted by several outsiders like cops, Wasimbhai and other such characters until the final climax is reached.

In short, the story can be summarized as follows…

Nainesh has to deliver Rs.2 crores to Wasimbhai.

Unnati and Saurav manage to steal the money but not whisk it away.

The fear of losing his own life forces Nainesh to kill the Mafia Don and his aides.

Nainesh nabs Unnati and Saurav, but the duo manages to escape with the money after killing Nainesh, Wasimbhai and another goon.

On their way to destination ‘Happy days forever’ Unnati shrewdly murders Saurav and flees with the whole loot alone.

Unnati thinks that she has finally succeeded in being the cleverest and the best of the lot…but what she fails to understand is that this is a never-ending game. This is a game that’ll go on until all the players meet the same end that befell Nainesh and the others.

It’s a very DANGERous game wherein…You can run but you can never hide.

Performance wise, Ashutosh Rana as Nainesh is worth a million bucks. If at all the movie seems interesting in spite of not having song sequences, all credits to Ashutosh’s superb performance. Leading able support to his master performance are Tara Deshpande and Jas Arora. Even though Jas Arora seems to have severe problems with his dialogue delivery, Vasant Chheda’s apt precision keeps the screenplay gripping. Another mighty plus of the film is WHOSANE’s macabre trance music. His intriguing score holds complete sway over the audience and doesn’t let their minds wander. Hats-off to the trance DJ.

On the flip side, it won’t be fair to say that the film doesn’t have a single song. It would have made little sense in having songs in a script that gives no scope for it. The film doesn’t have a loud star cast and that can cause the audience to keep away from the theatres for the initial days, but once people begin to see the film. It must catch on. Here’s a film that’s more for the classes than for the masses.

On the technical side, there’s no much scope for cinematography and the like, but the editing is precise and at no point of time does the film look boring or dragging.

Vasant Chheda has proved that he is here to stay.

At the box office, Danger will prove to be a winner provided everyone gets the right picture behind this noir thriller. However, if Danger does prove to become a commercial success it will be a great boost to Bollywood. Indian films will indeed find a wider foreign audience. Congrats Vasant Chheda!