Wednesday, October 07, 2020

See You Again

C U Soon' Review: Fahadh Faasil And Roshan Mathew Star In A Nail-Biting  Thriller | HuffPost India Entertainment

Over The Top (OTT), like we have found out, is fast living up to its name. Few ageing Bollywood suspects are merrily bypassing cable, broadcast, and satellite television to spin a royal digital mess. Already, the Velvety Kashyaps have 'choked' us, certain Mishra-men have made a mockery of 'serious' issues, and the Gangajal Jhas have staged a clumsy detour of 'ashrams'. The last mentioned, to its credit, is reasonably entertaining, what if laughable in most parts. Cooking a greasy meal of pet ingredients - rampant sex acts, profane language, and cloddish conclusions - these self-proclaimed connoisseurs and custodians of avant-garde cinema are celebrating a second life, ripe with blooming stupidity amid looming senility.

Thanks only to the democratic values of the OTT streaming, we occasionally come across a 'Paatal Lok' or even better, the Fahadh Faasil-produced and Mahesh Narayanan-directed Malayalam flick 'C U Soon'. 

One of the few products to showcase a credible digital universe, this end to end 'screen' saga owes it all to the wonderful acting of the lead and support players. Faasil is of course the leader of the pack: a quintessential back-end wizard of cent percent Mallu make, snooping out of the way for his cousin's benefit, a Middle East banking executive wooing a seemingly middle class native 'found' on Tinder. Following Faasil's clean chit based on a remote diagnostic check of the lady's digital footprints, the love story looks to move ahead, but just when it appears to bloom, a series of abrupt happenings spell doom and turn the hero's life upside down. You can virtually read the whole film from Faasil's outwardly impassive but unmistakably expressive face, every now and then creased by the highs and lows of his wayward and whimsical life. 

The story takes bizarre turns - one after another -  which manage to cut across the inevitable predictability in a masterful manner. The discerning audience will have a fair idea of the impending twists, yet the shock value of the voyage is masterfully retained, and left charmingly suggestive at the very end. And don't miss the redolent truths of trivial scenes - a house help making Faasil's wallet lighter by few bills in the course of a cleaning chore. Awesome!

The camera brilliantly underlines the brevity and spontaneity of on the spur social networking conversations, and the director has no qualms establishing the premise in a laid back, indulgent fashion, for it is critical to the events that follow in quick succession, shown largely as indoor happenings and online chats across the globe.    

Faasil, C U SOON!