MEDIOCRE TALES NARRATED CRAFTILY

3 Storeys

STARRING: Richa Chadha, Pulkit Samrat, Renuka Shahane, Sharman Joshi, Masumeh Makhija, Ankit Rathi and Aisha Ahmad

DIRECTOR: Arjun Mukherjee

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Debutant director Arjun Mukherjee’s 3 Storeys , with a misleading title, is a craftily narrated tale of characters living in a three-storey chawl in Mumbai.

Set in a middle-class dwelling in the heart of Mumbai, the setting plays a signi cant part in portraying the social fabric and astutely intertwines the lives of the people living there.

The rst act starts on an intriguing note but soon crumbles. The narrative, with its twists and turns, is on-the-nose and proceeds with reckless abandon. And the characters really need to “get it” if the story is to have its triumphant third-act liberation, which they do. Their tales are exciting, absorbing yet clichéd.

Renuka Shahane, with prosthetics and gaudy make-up as the Goan, Flory Mendonca, is a tad over the top. Though she performs to the best of her ability, she seems to be a mis t in her role. She plays a pampering mother who spares the rod and spoils her son Anthon.

Masumeh Makhija and Sharman

Joshi pair as star-crossed lovers; Varsha Joshi a Brahmin girl and Shankar Verma the ace embroider, who land up living in the same building. Their on-screen chemistry is palpable.

Similarly, debut actors Aisha Ahmed and Ankit Rathi as Malini and Sohail make a cute pair caught in an interreligion love story. Their romance, though underplayed, creates a ripple and you root for the two.

Among the others in signi cant roles are Himanshu Malik as the bachelor police of cer Ganpat who lives alone and Richa Chadha, the seductress-cumnarrator. Though wasted in miniscule parts, they have their moments of onscreen glory.

The lm, mounted on a moderate scale, is technically sound. Will Humphris’ camera work is good in parts. His frames capture the locales and emotions sharply, but some of his frames are shaky and the lighting a tad poor.

Clinton Cerejo’s music blends well with the narrative and elevates the viewing experience.

Overall, an intelligent viewer would initially dismiss the lm as a lazily penned plot with banalities and plot- holes galore, but then the writers cheekily and astutely wrap up the lm. At some points, it makes you say, “Ah, I did not see that coming.”

And, if you are in a good mood, you will leave the lm on a positive note or cutting-away of the material to play on the urgency of the moment.

Saurabh Shukla has all the fun. And Devgn lets him. It is this spirit of passive resistance that makes Raid a riveting watch. The more Devgn’s goodness shines, the more Shukla’s decadent corruption showers its reeking bene cence down on the plot that ironically gets its sustenance not from Devgn’s Rama-like heroism but Shukla’s Ravan-esqe rhetorics.

While Devgn and his raiders of the lost assets pool their talents to create a moribund army of wealth retrievers, the lm’s fuel surcharge comes from the heated exchanges between the bureaucratic hero and the political renegade. The two actors play against one other with brilliant brio.

Support cast is largely credible and sometimes remarkably engaging (Shukla’s antiquated yet alert mother is a howl). But Ileana D’Cruz brought in for the sake of romantic glamour sticks out like a sore thumb with her patently Lakhnavi chikan-attired performance. By the time the raid on Rajaji’s illgotten wealth is over, the director has made a darkly humorous point on what it takes to call a dishonest politician dishonest.

Don’t miss Raid. One of its many pleasures is to watch the two principal actors in full control, even as the director stands back to let the plot grow hot without burning itself out.

Subhash K Jha

else you will feel cheated for investing in the characters that were just a gment of one’s imagination.

Nonetheless, climb the 3 Storeys and nd out for yourself.

Troy Ribeiro