What happens when you roll a dice on a Ludo board? You move forward and with every step dive deep into the unprecedented game. And that’s what Anurag Basu’s new endeavour over Netflix is all about.
Several lives intertwined, highlighting the famous butterfly effect, Netflix’s new release ‘Ludo’ is another star-studded movie. But what makes it cohesive is the sheer brilliance of actors putting their best foot forward and a storyline that effortlessly makes transitions.
Now let’s take a glimpse at the movie. Spoiler alert!
The fun-filled movie begins on a high note where half an hour into the movie and the history of each character is dropped to the audience to take them on a frolicking ride. Pankaj Tripathi at his best is a local boss Sattu Bhaiyya, out on his killing trip which he calls ‘salvation’ and finds an eye-witness, small town fella Rahul played by Rohit Saraf. Meanwhile, ventriloquist Aditya Roy Kapoor as Akash and his old marriage match played by Sanya Malhotra find themselves in a complicated horizon as their sex tape goes viral. Then enters restauranter and Mithun fan Rajkummar Rao as Alok or Aloo and the love of his life, Pinky played by Fatima Sana Shaikh.
Adding more to this already mingled story, Abhishek Bachchan makes a move on screen as Sattu Bhaiyya’s old ally Bittu, freshly released from jail. And as the four quadrants of Ludo gets filled, the dice rolls, bringing the unexpected to everyone. Going through several criss-crosses and momentarily passing each other’s life, the leads try to straighten their own lives.
As the movie progresses, the characters develop where the most rowdy characters find their soft spots and the lover boys get deeper into the fatal-love notion to save and impress the love of their lives.
To summarise the performances, Pankaj Tripathi and his calm acting as a big time goon is as impressive as always and takes you on a comic roll. Rajkummar’s stellar acting as a lovelorn aashique with his ‘Jaan Ke Barbaad Hone Ka Hi Naam Ishq Hai’ ideology is extraordinary. Junior Bachchan in a softy avatar, bonding with a kid, hoping to see his own daughter is adorable. Aditya Roy in order to save the reputation of his old time flame ahead of her marriage to another man is obviously charming. And Rohit in his timid avatar falling for the nurse Sheeja played by Pearle Maney is amazing.
Though at moments, the movie appears to be overstuffed with no clear ending to be witnessed in near future but the constant hopping from one life to another keeps the attention of the audience intact. The music is beautiful with light-hearted dialogues and impressive narrative.
‘Ludo’ has its dull moments but the sparkly ones are worthy to watch and constitute most part of the film. The lingering music is nice and original. The balancing of different virtues and flaunting the yin-yan relation, the movie is a good watch, especially during the holiday season where most of us will stay bound to our houses to keep COVID at bay.
We would give the movie three and a half star out of five for bringing an unpredictable story along with bizarre characters and noteworthy performers.
Watch it’s trailer here:
