The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ignore these ‘Strangers’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 15, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ignore these ‘Strangers’

MEDIOCRE STUFF: A still from ‘Strangers’

Film: Strangers

Cast: Jimmy Sheirgill, Sonali Kulkarni

Direction: Aanand L. Rai

The best thing about Aanand L. Rai’s ‘Hitchcockian thriller’ is, it is not long. However, in the film’s brevity lies viewers’ respite. The film might be short in duration but it drags, and drags, often leaving the viewers wondering if they have come to watch a non-drama, non-happening affair? It begins and ends on the same note: two men – Jimmy Sheirgill and Kay Kay Menon – meet aboard a train. Trapped in unhappy marriages, they ar e saddled with partners you won’t want to wish to be a companion to: Menon’s wife – desperately under-utilised Sonali Kulkarni in a lustreless role – cannot overcome the loss of her son 15 years ago. And Sheirgill’s wife – Nandana with a peculiar accent – runs the family but is a practitioner of open-ended marriage. Oh, by the way, Menon is studious, predictable and boring while Sheirgill as a struggling writer never gives you a line that would make you believe that one day he would make the cut!

The men want to get rid of their wives. But how? That is the only line of substance in an otherwise completely moth-eaten film. It has neither a momentum necessary for a thriller, nor that attention to fine detail necessary for a film to grow gradually on the viewers. But there is a saving grace in the film! A nice, soothing song with Javed Akhtar’s lyrics! That is, however, too little compensation for relentless tedium. Sorry, but ‘Strangers’ is the kind of film you wish you had not watched with your best friend. Or even a nodding acquaintance for that matter!

ZIYA US SALAM

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