NH10 - Movie Review

A thriller from Navdeep Singh, it holds your attention throughout the film. This is one of those movies which you find gripping and yet regret that it had promised for more. Except for the climax, which somehow seemed cliché with the triumph of good over evil, your mind experiences the plight of Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam) and Meera (Anushka Sharma) for the entire 1 hour 55 min. Not many movies manage to do that.       

The movie begins with showing a newly wed couple, Arjun and Meera, characterised by the intimacy between them. The protagonists being from different states (used later to show contrast between urban and rural lifestyles) could have been established much well in the audience mind. The reference made twice to the forgetfulness of Arjun (once when he forgets to take his mobile phone to the party and the other when he keeps telling Meera on their journey to the villa that he has not forgotten anything this time) emphasizes that this forgetfulness would play a role in the mess they were going to get into.

The film is a thriller trying to bring out the difference in the urban and rural lifestyle especially of women. A couple (inter-caste marriage) is beaten up brutally by the members of the girl’s family in the village whereas the women in urban India are upset about bars being closed at 11 30 PM in Bangalore. The protagonists, Arjun and Meera have themselves had an inter caste marriage. When questioned by the policeman about her caste, on the way to rescue Arjun, Meera doesn’t even know hers and the policeman points out that even a 12 year old girl in the village would know hers.            A mild indication of this subject of the story is provided at the very beginning with a comment passed by one of Meera’s male colleagues “Women employees tend to have it easy with bosses”.    

A tense tone is maintained throughout the movie. The car attack on Meera on her way back from the party (though at this point you tend to erroneously believe that the film would revolve around the identity of the perpetrators), crescendo in the swimming pool scene, the toll booth operator mentioning about someone being shot, the scene where Arjun gets down in the village to ask the route (with the focus on the stranger in the rear view mirror), Meera smoking a cigarette in a way testifying the tense environment, the shot with the camera behind the guy lurking amidst the trees when Arjun and Meera reach the forest, sustain the tense mood of the movie.

The movie at times is trying a bit too hard to highlight the contrast between the lifestyles of urban and rural women not suiting its thriller genre.  The discussion between policeman and Meera in the jeep on the way to save her husband is easily spoiling the carefully built momentum so far.

As the film nears its end, Meera carries the film on her shoulders. However, the film relatively loses its tension from this point and doesn’t live up to its standards set so far. The jeep scene, stage show scenes help in doing so.

Rating – 3/5