Ugly (2013) Reviews

• Ugly - An ugly state of affairs in the lives of ordinary people

  jon_s_chan2015-01-22

  Anurag Kashyap yet again proves that he is in a league by himself among accomplished Bollywood directors. Lately in Bollywood there has been a surge in talented writers/directors creating movies that steer away from typical Bollywood glitz, glamor and grandeur. These glamorous movies appeal to the delusions of most of the Indian audience. But audience who take movies as a form of art and source for inspiration can see through the bling and realize that the substance is utterly lacking. Writers/Directors like Kashyap do not have audience in their mind when they create movies, they cater their work for themselves, which in my opinion brings the best out of any creator of art. Ugly is a tale of ordinary lives involved in extraordinary circumstances. It starts out with a missing child followed by sequences that will make you utterly hate some characters initially. But as the movie unfolds and characters develop on screen, opinions on most of the characters will gradually change. This is a rarity in Bollywood movies, because many of them have characters that are purely good or evil. There is no middle ground, everything is looked as black or white and 30 minutes into the movie you can predict the plot by connecting dots between good and bad characters. But what if you start watching a movie where characters are constantly evolving on screen and every character has some evil and some nobility to him? That is when things become unpredictable and keep you on the edge of your seat if it is a thriller like this story is. Greed and desperation, combined with poverty has a way of bringing out monsters in people you would usually deem as normal. Let me go ahead and say that you will find no character likable in the movie. Correction, I liked all the characters, but I could not root for any of them. But if I had to make an exception I would say one character would come out in a positive light by the end of the movie, even if there is some evil to him/her. This movie is very condensed and concentrated with many raw, heavy hitting scenes that prompt vivid reactions from expressive audience. The plot is captivating and progresses linearly, with some retrospection in-between. Kashyap manages to have his audience on the edge of their seats 15 minutes into the movie. If you are a sucker for suspense thrillers like I am, you wont be leaning back for the rest of the movie. Kashyap also compels you to empathize and cringe at the plight and despair of characters, a lot of which is brought onto them by themselves. Kashyap is a master at writing characters and finding impeccable actors to bring them to life. The lack of make up combined with many improvised scenes give a "real life" rawness and experience you are not used to in Bollywood movies. The movie "Apocalypse Now" where the character played by Marlon Brando talks about "the horror" is a scene that resonates deeply with audience. That was an improvised scene played by Brando who hardly could remember the lines and thus improvised in front of cameras to give us arguably the greatest scene ever. Kashyap obviously understands the positives of improvisation and lets his extremely talented cast do their thing. I only hope these actors get the recognition they deserve. All in all, Ugly is the best Bollywood has to offer for the year 2014. I can confidently say that without even watching 99% of Hindi movies that came out in 2014. It is entertaining and inspiring. I wish I could meet Mr. Kashyap in person and thank him for all the wonderful creations. He is one of the very few reasons I still bother with Bollywood. I wish he managed to squeeze in Kay Kay Menon and Manoj Bajpai somewhere, that is the only (silly) complaint I have about this movie.

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• Dark, Intense and Disturbing : A tale of wretched human motives

  hsm23102014-12-28

  It is one of the best to have come out of the Kashyap factory in terms of script and characters. It is one taut, dark, intense and disturbing tale of wretched nature of the human motives and how the grand plan has it's own way of laughing at those. Interestingly Ugly through each of it's elements will take you back to Kashyap's previous works and remind you why he is truly the king. The brilliant script writing will remind you of Black Friday, Kashyap's first masterpiece. The excellent visual treatment, even though it's not a feature throughout the film is something without which any of AK's films is incomplete. The trippy background score by Brian Oncomber is the stand out feature in the second half of the film when the film begins to approach the tipping point. Without doubt, the hero of the film is it's characters. Rarely would you come across a film full of complex characters, where the motives of every action of those characters get automatically clear as the story progresses. You do not know what to appreciate more, the courage with which the director is bluntly showing the depraved complexion of human nature or the ease with which that has been knit in a story.The non linear nature of the storytelling in the first half brings the necessary variation which adds to the build up. Rahul Bhat who is seen on screen after a long gap tells you why there is no dearth of excellent character actors in the country, it's just that there are not enough roles for them. Vineet Singh, aka Danish Khan from GOW, will make you cringe and laugh with the expletive chain reaction. Ronit Roy, in his second powerhouse appearance in a Kashyap production, is perfectly cast. And one performance which is straight out of life is of Girish Kulkarni, as the police inspector. There is as much sincerity in his laugh as is in his sombre face. The one liners are so on mark that you would forget that there is a reel rolling. Surely, the film has some of it's elements similar to that of Fargo, the classic Hollywood dark comedy, but it never plays on your mind, so it wouldn't qualify as lifting. Kashyapwa has done it again. Can't believe what made them to hold the film for so long. Dear AK, you are the dark shining light of Bollywood. Keep'em coming

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• The greatest good surprise for me since a while...

  searchanddestroy-12014-05-29

  I'll be honest, I have never been courageous enough to Watch a movie from India, Bollywood. The only thinking to Watch one movie from here scared me to death. I won't explain why, you could misunderstand me. So, I first read the comments in magazines about this one, and made an attempt. At my own risks... And was amazingly surprised. A truly good surprise, a genuine film noir, real dark, whilst with comedy scenes, such as this one: with some of the guys Under custody explaining to the police officer how to use a cell phone as a camera...It could have been used in the new wave crime flicks from UK and USA, as we see since Quentin Tarantino arrival, two decades ago... An offbeat way of filming and especially story telling. No hero here, no good vs bad guys scheme. A depressing tale, if you analyse the tale in detail. With a downbeat and totally surprising end. This director deserves to be watched, although this kind of stuff is not for all audiences. Not for sissies or romantic addicts.

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• Can't afford to miss it!!

  harshrajsinghal2014-05-31

  Its a very nice movie, beautifully directed & very different (in a good way) from other Bollywood movies. From the beginning itself your mind is not allowed to rest. You start with so many doubts and as the movie progresses some of them gets cleared up, but guess what now you have so many more. So just a suggestion, start the movie with your bladder cleaned up otherwise later on you'll be totally lost. Good humor + full suspense + great acting + great direction, have been waiting for this for so long. Thanks Mr. Anurag Kashyap for this beauty. Ronit Roy is a great actor, no doubt about that, and he has done wonderful acting here once again. But others are equally good.

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• Another engaging, dark thriller from AK.

  DesiBaba2014-04-09

  I saw it at a local film festival last night and thought it was quite good. It is probably one of the darkest Bolly movie I've seen. This is the opposite of a family movie -- the plot is very dark, characters very gray, and language very adult. It has a very realistic feel to it. Other than Ronit Roy it was all new faces on the screen. There is no likable character in the movie, but there are a few scenes where you can't help but empathize with their situation and find justification for their actions. There is a little bit of dark humor sprinkled throughout. This is not a movie for general audience, but if you enjoy dark movies that are good character studies then I'd highly recommend checking this one out.

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