What Is the Story About?
Lenny, a crime reporter in Pune, steps out to buy groceries in the midst of a night when the city faces a blackout. After meeting a childhood friend Ravi, Lenny rams into a vehicle in which multiple men are found dead. However, the crisis offers him an unexpected ticket to glory. Soon, he’s in the company of a don, an actress and two small-time social media influencers. Where’s the tale headed?
Performances?
The generally dependable Vikram Massey appears indifferent and confused in a clueless film that didn’t merit his presence (especially a few months after 12th Fail). Sunil Grover bags the more interesting role as a don with a gory past but makes little effort to bring the character alive with any spunk. Jisshu Sengupta and Mouni Roy, cast as a detective and an actress, hardly make any impact. Karan Sonawane and Saurabh Gadge only contribute to the cacophony and needed funnier lines. Ruhani Sharma and Anant Joshi keep you glued to their characters, despite their minimal screen time. The likes of Chhaya Kadam and Kelly Dorji are wasted.
Analysis
Blackout aims to be a quirky-little crime comedy with a handful of characters with dual identities. The tale is all about a man’s greed for money that invites uncalled-for trouble in his life. While the intentions of the makers are transparent, the execution is subpar, resembling an amateurish, loud school play. Despite a late recovery, there’s little that the makers can do to salvage the film.
Lenny is the quintessential good boy-protagonist, there are hardly any grey areas in his life. He’s a loyal husband, a jolly good friend, is popular for his sting journalism (that earns him many enemies too) until a road accident changes his life for the worse. He keeps landing in newer troubles as bumps into people from various walks of life.
The film takes ages to put forth its point, loses its direction amidst the verbal banters of the oddball characters and the desperation to spice up the proceedings with humour. The unimaginative situations feel like abandoned remnants of popular crime comedies in the past. The characters are barely relatable and the film is so loud at times that you’re tempted to watch it like an audio play.
There’s no reason to care or invest in the endless rambling of the characters for a long time. The makers’ idea of humour is to name two social media influencers as Thik and Thak. Lenny dons varied getups to get his work done, but they seem like delayed entries for a fancy dress competition. It’s hard to understand where’s the story headed and there’s a complete disconnect within the initial hour.
While the director warrants your interest with the past of dreaded don dressed in the guise of a drunkard, the subplot eventually takes a predictable turn, focusing on the internal squabbles within a gang. At a time when you give up on it, Blackout revives with a key twist that turns the plot on its head. The characters, their motives and antics finally start making sense.
If the intent was to preserve the quirkiness in the material, Blackout should’ve been wrapped at least half an hour earlier. Except for the final 40 minutes, the film is all over the place, relying on tried and tested tropes. Even if your intention is to kill time during a lazy evening in a monsoon, you should’ve set the bar really low to tolerate this 117 minute-long ride to hell.
Music and Other Departments? But for the climax, there are very few standout situations in the film that make you sit up and take notice and it’s only unfair to expect the background score to do the damage-control job. Within his limitations, John Stewart Eduri does an okayish job. Blackout could’ve worked with tighter editing and a more coherent screenplay. Anubhav Bansal’s cinematography realistically captures the ebbs and flows during the protagonist’s nightmarish car ride.
Highlights?
The last 40 minutes
A bunch of oddball characters
Smart twists
Drawbacks?
Wayward screenplay
Uninspiring writing
Dull performances
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Blackout Review by Binged Bureau