LOOTERA MOVIE REVIEW

Vikramaditya Motwane made his debut as a director with Udaan in 2010, a movie which won itself a cult following gradually and is now acclaimed as a modern day classic. He is from the Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) school of filmmaking and has also been associated with Anurag Kashyap.

Lootera, his new feature, is an amalgamation of what we would expect from SLB and Anurag Kashyap as there is romance, drama and passion in ample measure. It is partly based on the short story ‘The Last Leaf’ by O.Henry.

The movie is set in the post-independence period of the 1950s when the Zamindars and Kings of the country were fast losing their hold and power.

Roy Chowdhury is one such Zamindar in the Manikpur village of West Bengal and he lives with his daughter Pakhi. The young and dashing Varun Shrivastav enters their life as an ambitious archaeologist who is out to uncover rare idols in the Zamindar’s vast reserves of land. Pakhi falls for him straightaway and Varun is also drawn to her. Following a few stumbling blocks, the two are set to be engaged and that’s when a shocking revelation about Varun tears Pakhi’s life to shreds.

The action shifts to Dalhousie in the second half and whether the two are destined to unite is the finale of Lootera.

Lootera gets almost everything right as the direction and screenplay are focused, the cast is brilliant, the music is spectacular and the visuals are too good to be true. Sonakshi Sinha appears throughout a movie for a change, and in contrast to her appearances as a glamorous doll in commercial flicks. She is a revelation and her character requires her to be sparkling, sick, pale, intense and more at the same time. The handsome hunk Ranveer Singh’s career is up a pedestal following this role. Both the clean shaven and rugged bearded looks suit him well and just a little work on his voice would make him a finished product.

Adil Hussain as the cop on hot pursuit is majestic as always. Divya Dutta is yet again underutilized while the likes of Arif Zakaria, Barun Chanda and Vikrant Massey are adequate.

The film has authentic production design as the period era is well depicted with all the old antiques and props in place. The sound design is also brilliant as during the second half scenes in Dalhousie we get the feeling of being in an icy hill station thanks to the proper sounds and atmospherics. The cinematography of Mahendra Shetty is stunning particularly in the second half.

Coming to the music, you’ll just say WOW while listening to Amit Trivedi’s grand orchestrations for the background score. Hans Zimmer’s work for the Dark Knight movies might have inspired Amit to come up with such a hair-raising score. His songs such as Zinda and Manmarziyan are melodious and well suited for the mood of the film.

Special mention to the climax which is a fitting and dramatic end to this period romance. It will linger in your mind long after the show gets over. Also, that narrow alley chase in Dalhousie in the second half has been expertly done with the music, the stunts team and the actors doing a great job.

To sum up, Lootera is a different yet worthy follow-up to Udaan by Vikramaditya Motwane and his future moves are bound to be really exciting given his limitless potential.