Ugly: Anurag Kashyap finds his comfort zone

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Ugly will be a great way to sign off 2014 and a great start for Anurag Kashyap's 2015. After his series of mis-timers like Gangs of Wasseypur etc. Ugly has to be his best bet after Black Friday. Nuanced, balanced and some excellent casting, makes Ugly one of the darkest movies in a long long time. The film and I will possibly give it to Anurag; he takes viewers to new highs and lows and each time you think there is a banality in the moment, the film circumvents into a new zone and unravelling a new facet of the "UGLY" human side. What is so classic of the plot, script and the screenplay, Ugly peels through each character in the movie so well. From the leads to the support every single frame is a fortitude in it's essence and perseverance. What works best; Anurag builds it up gradually and provides viewers ample moment to experience it; something not witnessed in hindi cinema for a long time.

Take for instance the moment when Rahul Kapoor (Rahul Bhat) and Chaitanya Mishra (a brilliant Vineet Kumar Singh) comes to the police station to lodge a complaint with Inspector Jadhav (an absolutely terrific Girish Kulkarni) about sudden disappearance of Rahul's 8-9 year old daughter. The scene builds up and each time you think it is coming to a conclusion, the focus shifts to a new level. This is classic in Ugly and there are several moments through the film. Watch Girish Kulkarni again when his senior, Inspector Bose (Ronit Roy) asks him to explain about the song Nichod le by Rakhi Malhotra (Surveen Chawla) and what follows is simply the reason why Girish Kulkarni got National Award in acting as best actor in 2011. And every character does justice. Surveen Chawla, Tejaswini Kolhapuri, Ronit Roy, Siddhant Kapoor...

The best part about the film, of course has to be it's climax, which seems to bring to an end to a whole process of unravelling the journey. And when you watch the climax, you realise and absorb the eternity of the film. That is where as audience you start to think about each character in the movie. This will be something Anurag must cherish for a long time. He could virtually play with the audience and their mind.

The casting of the film was perfect and none of the character at any point seemed larger than life. Infact, the roles of each of the character was so clearly etched, taking any famous (unless you count Aalia Bhat's blink and you miss role) would have undermined the moment. The dark sides of each character to the point looking "UGLY" is fascinating and classic film work. I will wish Anurag continues to experiment (I know this is easier said than done) and UGLY is a case in point.

Music is great and so is the camera work, where Mumbai plays the perfect seedy underbelly and exposing the dark ugly side of the city as a perfect foil to the characters.

There are though moments in the film which has gaps and particularly the angle of Rahul Kapoor, Shoumik and Shalini in their college days looked weak and out of place. Yet you could discount them as the overwhelming factor is the kidnapping of the child and what follows thereafter...

Truly, a great way to sign off 2014 and welcome 2015. Thank you Anurag and thank you cinema (just as you are cursing a bad 2014 barring a Queen and Highway, out comes this little gem). 

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