Lootcase Film Assessment: Kunal Kemmu And Solid Have A Blast However Crime Caper Fails To Money In

Solid: Kunal Kemmu, Rasika Dugal, Ranvir Shorey, Gajraj Rao, Vijay Raaz

Director: Rajesh Krishnan

Score: 2.5 stars (out of 5)

The actors – we imply all of the actors, together with the tertiary ones – appear to be having a blast in Lootcase, helmed by debutant Rajesh Krishnan, however the movie, regardless of exhibiting early potential, seems to be a missed alternative. Streaming now on Disney Hotstar, the crime caper begins on an encouragingly agency footing, stays on target for about an hour or so, after which loses steam and careens off into an uneven, unexciting lane from the place there isn’t a escape.

The hero of Lootcase, Nandan Kumar (Kunal Kemmu), a blue-collared employee, is a quintessential widespread man caught between his restricted means and his limitless wants. His son Aayush’s (Aryan Prajapati) calls for by no means finish and his spouse Lata (Rasika Dugal) has to reckon with working a house that’s at all times low on provides.

On his approach again from work one night time, the harried Nandan sees his life take a dramatic flip – he thinks it is for the higher, seems it isn’t. He stumbles upon a bright-red strolley bag filled with wads of 2000-rupee notes. Thrown off at first, he decides to maintain the bag – and all of the troubles that include it.

Unbeknownst to him, the suitcase belongs to a manipulative politician, Patil (Gajraj Rao), and is destined for the handle of one other malfeasant politician. Earlier than it landed up outdoors a public urinal on a road named Pipe Street, it was within the care of two small-time gangsters who owe a debt to the first-named politician and are pressured to run the dangerous errand for him.

An enormous bust-up queers the pitch. The prison couriers are waylaid by the henchmen of a mafia don Bala Rathod (Vijay Raaz), a shootout ensues, and the cops arrive. Within the melee, the suitcase is dumped on the aspect of the street – that’s the place our Everyman finds.

Nandan takes the suitcase residence – which is situated in a decrease middle- class Mumbai chawl – and even thinks up a reputation for it, Anand Petikar, within the fond hope that any more his life might be an never-ending joyride. However he has to cover the stash from his spouse, who, regardless of the household’s persevering with privation and her fixed peeve that her husband offers away an excessive amount of of his hard-earned cash to his elder sister (a personality who we by no means see however hear of continuously), abhors dishonesty of any variety.

On the face of it, the cash makes life infinitely simpler for Nandan. He can now maintain his nagging son Aayush comfortable by plying him with materials presents, journeys to the mall and luxurious Chinese language meals. His spouse, too, has no purpose to complain though she would not have the foggiest notion why their life has begun to search for.

One a part of the story focuses on Nandan’s makes an attempt to maintain the suitcase and its contents a secret, the opposite revolves across the politician’s makes an attempt to recuperate his misplaced cash. Each yield some comicality, however the former strays into the terrain of home strife with out fairly discovering the candy spot. The performing, as has already been identified, is first-rate. The writing is spotty, humorous in components, not so efficient in others.

To return to the plot, the politician deploys a rogue cop Madhav Kolte (Ranvir Shorey) to find the lacking suitcase come what may. With the policeman leaping into the fray, it’s only a matter of time earlier than Nandan’s stroke of luck turns right into a millstone round his neck.

Bala Rathod, performed with customary aplomb by Vijay Raaz, is as amusing a personality any you’ll ever encounter in an motion comedy. He would have pulled off miracles in a extra impressed movie. Even right here, Raaz manages to make the person do minor wonders.

Bala attracts inspiration from the world of animals that he watches obsessively on Nat Geo. It’s a jungle on the market, he says of the Mumbai underworld that he inhabits, and nothing makes extra sense than studying the tips of survival from the creatures of the wild.

He insists that his two bumbling henchmen, Rajan (Nnilesh Divekar) and Graduate (Aakash Dabade), subscribe to the channel and maintain abreast of the invaluable information of wildlife that it disseminates. Their tardiness in doing so incenses Bala Rathod no finish. However that is not central to the story.

The desperation of Patil, who’s changed into a delightfully vivid determine by Gajraj Rao, is. And so are the methods of the crooked Kolte, who operates out of an deserted bookstore however is not remotely within the treasure trove stocked there. With such oddballs on the free, you anticipate Lootcase to show right into a no-holds-barred, madcap chase. No such luck.

It does grow to be an insane chase all proper within the finale, however the preliminary sense of function – predicated on the conflict between Nandan’s harmless optimism and the underworld’s ruthless cynicism – dissipates because the screenplay seems in useless for gags that might benefit from the promise of the premise.

The movie fails to money in. The actors do not. Kemmu, because the well-meaning unusual man who succumbs to greed and plunges into confusion, is relatable as a person subsequent door. Rasika Dugal is flawless because the feckless homemaker who always harangues her husband for failing to convey residence sufficient dough.

The three principal supporting actors – Vijay Raaz, Gajraj Rao and Ranvir Shorey – are an absolute hoot. Lootcase passes muster so long as one in every of them is on the display screen. They’re in supreme management as they lend a sparkle to the movie that the script is unable to totally capitalize on.

Lootcase, as should be apparent by now to anyone who has come this far into the evaluation, is a movie that does not totally deserve the assemblage of high quality actors that it has at its disposal. However for merely getting Vijay Raaz and Gajraj Rao into the identical body, it deserves one star extra – half every for the 2 actors – than it in any other case would have.