Rating: 2/5 stars (Two stars)
Star cast: Arjun Rampal, Chitrangada Singh, Vipin Sharma, Deepti Naval.
What's Good: The beginning of the drama; the music.
What's Bad: Some of the performances; the confusing script and mixed emotions; the ending.
Loo break: Several in the second half.
Watch or Not?: Inkaar is a love-revenge saga gone wrong, but it's not worth the effort.
User Rating:
Two heavyweights of an advertising agency are at loggerheads; and it's not just about a piddly position or raise, its sexual harassment. Maya Luthra (Chitrangda Singh), the National Creative Head of an advertising agency, has accused the CEO of the company, Rahul Verma (Arjun Rampal) of sexual harassment. In a bid to avoid mud-slinging and keep its name from bad press, the firm gets social worker (Deepti Naval) to try and solve the crisis along with some other senior members of the agency. As both sides tell their side of the story, here's what we get to see.
As a young and brash copywriter, Maya gets taken under Rahul's wing not just for her looks and personality but also for her ideas. It's just a matter of time before they hit the bed and things start to go wrong. Maya finds herself being the butt of jokes in the office for sleeping with Rahul, while he sees Maya getting too possessive about him (though he isn't even her boyfriend). Frustrated, Maya moves to Delhi and then to New York to better her career and to get away from her too-familiar co-workers.
Once back, things start to get even worse. With her new boyfriend in tow, she nabs the position of National Creative Director, gets on the company's board and even gets the biggest clients of the company. Rahul obviously isn't too happy about this. The duo end up spending most of their time butting in each others' affairs than getting any work done.
Where does this lead to? Is this a clear case of sexual harassment or is there more to it? Who will be forced to accept defeat?
Arjun Rampal and Chitrangada Singh (Inkaar Movie Stills)
Inkaar Review: Script Analysis
The movie starts off well but Manoj Tyagi's script just doesn't click. Even the beginning of Maya and Rahul's love story doesn't sit well. So when it further hurtles into a disaster, it makes even less sense. Though it's unheard of for CEO's to sit through creative briefs, presentations or cracking a campaign, you see Rahul doing all of it. Why the heck do they have a Creative Director then? And why does Rahul have so much of a say in almost every aspect that the Creative Head is supposed to handle? The sloppy research is disappointing. Just flinging keywords like 'alpha male', 'ambitious woman' does not make good research.
The characters themselves are so confused that they make even less sense to the viewer. One moment they're fighting it out in a boardroom, the next moment they're making out in the bathroom. The climax is the nail in the coffin. Forget trivializing woman harassment, the lengths to which the writer goes to make the ending happy/vague is when you reach your limit.
Inkaar Review: Star Performances
Who would have thought that Arjun Rampal would actually tower over Chitrangda Singh so effortlessly. He plays the role of Rahul with a quiet pride and seething rage that looks very believable. But Chitrangda is a different story altogether. Bipolar, childish and edgy is not her cup of tea though she looks darn hot. Most of Maya's character involves flicking her hair enough times to make you wish that the National Creative Head would invest in at least a godforsaken pair of hairpins.
Vipin Sharma stands out for his witticisms as Gupta. Deepti Naval makes an honest effort, but she looks so lost and confused that's it's a wonder that she's called out to help a sexually harassed official.
Inkaar Review: Direction, Music & Technical Aspects
The director Sudhir Mishra does his brave bit to salvage the movie. It's a confusing story and script get a little salvaged in Sudhir's able hands but it's as good as getting an umbrella in a flood. Shantanu Moitra's music is very good and goes well with the lilting moods. Sachin Krishn's cinematography is good.
Though Sudhir uses Kurosawa's Rashomon effect of unreliable narrators, technique does not lift the movie from its flaws.
Inkaar Review: The Last Word
Inkaar is a stylishly done movie that has very little else to offer in term of acting or performances.
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