‘Blurr’: Cast & Crew
Director: Ajay Bahl
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Gulshan Devaiah, Kruttika Desai Khan, Abhilash Thapliyal, Sorabh Chauhan, Nitya Mathur, Sumit Nijhawan
Available On: Zee5
Duration: 2 Hours 6 Minutes
‘Blurr’: Story
The film is the official Hindi remake of the Spanish film ‘Julia's Eyes’. The story is about one woman, Gayatri, finding out about the untimely death of her twin sister, who was visually impaired. She then tries to uncover the mystery behind the death while struggling with her own eyesight. Will she be able to find the killer of her twin sister? Or will she get killed herself in the pursuit? Will some more skeletons of her own family come out of the closet whilst she is trying to find the killer? Well, you’ll have to watch the film to find out.
‘Blurr’: Performances
Taapsee Pannu carries the film on her shoulders. However, three of her films this year – ‘Looop Lapeta’, ‘Dobaaraa’ and ‘Blurr’ all have her running against time in some way or the other. It's not that the storyline of the three films is similar, but because all of them are thrillers, all of them are western remakes, and all of them have Taapsee Pannu not looking too different – thus, they all kind of have the same feel. Not trying to take anything away from Taapsee Pannu’s brilliant portrayal in ‘Blurr’, but when you’re watching the film, it sort of feels like you’ve already seen this character. While she did do a ‘Mishan Impossible’, a ‘Tadka’ and a ‘Shabash Mithu’ this year, but it wouldn’t be bad to see her pick some more variety in her roles and looks even. All in all, in ‘Blurr’ she has done a decent job, but it sort of looks like her race with time is continuing from ‘Looop Lapeta’ to ‘Dobaar’a' to now ‘Blurr’.
Gulshan Devaiah is totally wasted. The class actor has been made to do such a small part which doesn’t even have too much of an impact on the story that you, as the audience, feel sorry for him. His act felt more like an extended cameo, which could have actually been a big twist for the climax.
Abhilash Thapliyal’s role comes in as a shocker, but as an audience, you were expecting a big name playing his character. He has done great in the limited screen time that he had onscreen. The amount of craziness he brings to the character is what keeps you hooked during the climax. His unpredictability, that ‘what would he do next’, is what makes the character more real.
All said and done, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to have swapped the actors and allowed Gulshan Devaiah to play the character Abhilash Thapliyal played, and vice versa. That would have been a great twist to the storyline.
The other supporting cast doesn’t have enough screen time to even warrant a mention.
‘Blurr’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects
Ajay Bahl manages to keep the thrill intact till the very end. However, he isn’t able to paint a good picture of eye donation, eye operations and subsequent eye care. It would have been great had he put more effort into detailing that entire aspect considering the movie’s prominent premise depends on that. Barring that, Bahl has managed to not let the thrill aspect go sloppy at any juncture. The moment you’re feeling that the movie is slightly dropping and becoming boring, something new happens, and you’re once again pulled into the story. That’s a great thing to have.
Ajay Bahl and Pawan Soni’s writing is the biggest sore point of this film. They just needed to just stick to the script of ‘Julia’s Eyes’ and not Indianise it too much considering the story is pretty much shot indoors, and there is not too much to be changed. However, in a bit to put in some local twists and turns, they’ve added in a few subplots which were absolutely unnecessary. For example, why was it necessary to show the husband having an affair with the late twin? Then, the bit about why the killer used to keep clicking and collecting pictures of his victims. Not many of these subplots got a satisfactory closure.
The biggest plus point of the film is its cinematography. Its sets the mood with the foggy mornings, the nights filled with rain and thunder and those twisting and winding roads amidst the old hilly cottages – aah! Lovely! Sudhir K. Chaudhary’s mastery of the craft shows in every frame of the movie. For example, the use of a greyish or bluish filter to shoot the entirety gives the much-needed gloomy, dark and thriller effect to the story and gives the audience the feel of a hilly small town. Then, the way he has not shown any of the faces of the potential suspects till the climax of the movie. As an audience you’re kept guessing whether the doctor is the antagonist, the neighbour is the antagonist or the nurse is the antagonist or the neighbour’s kid, or who is it actually? And you’re not able to make any pre-judgements considering you’re not seeing any of their faces. Masterstroke!
Manish Pradhan’s editing is also crisp and keeps the presentation to the point. Keeping a thriller to just about 2 hours and managing to not let the intensity sag even a bit, is definitely praiseworthy.
Aditya Pushkarna’s music is sadly not up to the mark. Usually, in thrillers, the background score and the music alleviates the viewer’s experience and makes them feel like they’re standing right beside the lead character. Sadly with Aditya Pushkarna’s music that didn’t happen.
‘Blurr’: Can Kids Watch It?
Yes
Outlook’s Verdict
‘Blurr’ manages to keep the thrill intact till the end. However, the film tries to cover a lot of different sub-plots, which slightly confuses you as a viewer. Despite having great cinematography, the makers should have put in a bit more effort towards eye ailment, the eye operating procedures and the subsequent eye care. Even with its shortcomings, this is definitely a good One Time Watch. I am going with 3 stars.
