For this week, let us take a look at Anurag Kashyap’s sleeper hit, Ugly. This 2014 released film only returned a tenth of its production value (which was around 4 – 4.5 Crore Rupees) in the film’s opening day. But this bad response was mainly due to the film’s limited release and small scale production. But Ugly got multiple positive reviews from both critics and movie-goers and with the help of word of mouth, the movie collected 1.65 Crore Rupees in its opening week. The movie eventually went on to get around 6.24 Crore Rupees, slowly converting the movie into a certified sleeper hit.
The premise of Ugly’s plot is somewhat similar to some movie plots before this movie’s time, but the screenplay took the plot in a different direction and Kashyap has worked well to make a brilliant film with this budget. The Hindi investigative cult classic premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where the movie is said to have received a standing ovation.
So what is Ugly all about? Rahul is a struggling actor, who has a daughter named Kali. Kali lives with her mother Shalini and her husband Police chief Shoumik Bose. Rahul and Shalini are divorced and he gets to meet his daughter and take her out, during Saturdays only. During one such meeting, he takes Kali to a work assignment and lets her stay in the car while he finishes with his assignment. She gets kidnapped and the events that follow, make up for the rest of the movie.
A lot of the movie’s main plot depends on many minute intricate details. Kashyap has written a brilliant story filled with complex characters and as the film progresses, we see a whole different side to every character in Ugly. That along with a twist in the end, easily saw Ugly become one of the best Indian films to have dropped in 2013.
Ugly is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.