Sriram Raghavan's film means three things to me - expect the unexpected , a sense of urgency and some sheer excitement. Unfortunately none of these boxes gets ticked in his latest outing.
To me its was a bland execution of a reasonably good copied concept. Raghavan went with a very slow paced and a surprisingly romantic take approach, a deviation from his standard style. The reason being this time he stayed true to the original. His love for French novels and Cinemas doesn't end. This is inspired and i would almost a replica of a French Film Le monte-charge which itself was based on a French Novel.
Nothing happen virtually in the first half, two strangers meet on a XMAS eve, strike a conversation and get to know each other etc. But there is ulterior motive for one of them and both are hiding something. There are good portions of surprises here and there but thats about it. The last 15-20 minutes feels super rushed and that police investigation ideally should have been taken up entirely by the second half.
Katrina shines in this enigmatic young woman character. The chemistry is reasonably well but I feel the climax portion for an one night relationship is not that realistic. There are no twists, but its more of surprise ending. The old charm of Bombay is being framed beautifully and the BGM lifts the show in bits and pieces. There are nice dark humor when you see a repeat of events. If i were to rank his film, this will bottom out for sure. A different approach suited for different audience but i remained the same with same expectation.
Verdict - 3/5(Its All About Planning)