With Raman Raghav 2.0, Anurag Kashyap is back and how! A dystopian study of two amoral, beyond-the-pale characters who are beyond redemption (and not seeking it either). They complete each other like a twisted jigsaw. The film is plotted with the eye of a master and edited so tightly that it unfolds in an impossibly riveting manner. You murder because you have to, like you need to eat or excrete. Each character is deftly sketched.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal are lethal in their performances. Their understated angst and strains of subterranean anger and violence add a new weapon to their repertoire. The fallen are soulmates and God is invoked by the one with a benign perversion designed to beguile.
Tarantinoesque in its treatment, this is Kashyap delving deep into the subterranean of the soul. Each chapter is a cinematic delight and the sum is greater than the parts. Myriad sub-shades apart, this is a story of two lost souls swimming and kicking and killing in a cesspool trying to find each other, looking for completion, for a certain satisfaction. But on this remorseless, psychotic journey there’s no relief given, none asked.
And the down, down, downward spiral continues, like there’s no tomorrow, no heaven or hell, just an inexorable compulsion to kill.
Years later, this film will be studied for its brilliant non-judgemental treatment of the human condition of a disturbed mind. Or am I trying to simplify and straitjacket its bewildering array of explorations? Do find out for yourself. Raman Raghav 2.0 is a must watch.
Watch Raman Raghav 2.0 on Amazon Prime
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