Via Darjeeling - An experimented venture. Review on Via Darjeeling

Via Darjeeling would be written down as another heart pounding thriller gone dead due to the over experimentation of the script. The film which is inspired from the Akira Kurusuwa’s Oscar nominated flick Roshomon falls flat at the second half after promising much in the first. The movieis based on four versions of the same story and ends abruptly following the ‘open ending’ legacy.

The movie set at Darjeeling as the background is a psycho thriller and has not yet been experimented in the hindi movie film industry till date. The flick revolves around a happily married couple (Kay Kay Menon and Sonali Kulkarni) who goes for honeymooning in Darjeeling. The story starts off when Kay Kay disappears mysteriously from the hotel. Police comes to investigate with inspector Robin Dutt (Vinay Pathak) leading the force, but fails to unveil the case.

Few years later, on one drunken night the inspector recalls the story to his four friends (Rajat Kapoor, Simone Singh, Prashanth Narayana, Sandhya Mridul) during a meet up. Listening to the story, each one of them ( except Sandhya Mridul) comes up with their own version, some sensationalizing it, some giving it a murder mystery twist. At the end the film makes the audience think in order to come with their own version, leaving all of us in a maze.

Kay Kay shows his versatility once again portraying varied emotions in a single story. Sonali Kulkarni is ok. Parvin Dabbas plays the role of a mysterious man, but lacks emotion. Vinay Pathak is brilliant once again. The actors completely wasted are Sandhya Mridul and Prashanth Narayana. The saving grace of the film would be its background music which intensified the moments and the camerawork. Brilliant!

The film fails to grab the audience in the second after after promising much in the first. Kolkata audience is still not aware of the open ending concept. The film becomes quite a nag when the versions of each of the characters become quite predictable. The over experimentation laid to the downfall of such a beautiful film. But do drop in to your nearest cinema hall to catch a glimpse of this film. It’s nice to go and watch an experimented venture rather than to sit and watch bogus Govinda flicks.