BOTTOM LINE
A Complete Brain Roast
RATING
1/5
Director: Vivek Daschaudary
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra
Music Director: Aman Pant
DOP: Jishnu Bhattacharjee
Editor: Chandrashekhar Prajapati
Producer: Rajkummar Rao, Patralekhaa, Tarun Bali
Production Company:Kampa Films
What Is the Film About?
Ramakant, a miserly middle-class man is obsessed with saving every penny. When a wedding he and his wife (Sanya Malhotra) attended is abruptly called off, he embarks on a bizarre, relentless quest to get back the expensive toaster they gifted. His pursuit results in series of mishaps, accidental murders, blackmail, amidst a group of eccentric neighbours.
Performances
It is simply a bad day at work for Rajkummar Rao. While he has pulled off comedies effortlessly before, this one is too much of a farce to salvage, and the cluelessness is visible on screen. Sanya Malhotra puts up a neat show, as she generally does, though her role contributes little to the proceedings.
No prizes for guessing why Archana Puran Singh accepted the role; the character possesses immense potential and she visibly has a blast with it. Yet, you eventually want her to stop as you get too tired to handle its maverick energy.
Upendra Limaye repeats himself in the same zone as Animal, while Jitendra Joshi passes muster. The cameos by Abhishek Banerjee and Farah Khan add no glitter, and Seema Pahwa (in what feels like a female equivalent of Amitabh Bachchan in Piku) is sadly wasted.
Analysis
Toaster, in more ways than one, feels like a product of an algorithm. Rajjkumar Rao, who’s been consciously trying his hand at edgy comedies (the space once Ayushman Khurana occupied), is paired up with a Netflix specialist Sanya Malhotra, a bankable face and a capable performer, for an eccentric crime comedy, which takes bizarre plot turns. The checklist feels right for a corporate project to woo a new set of subscribers.
Like all concept-driven comedies – as the title so obviously puts it out, the entire drama in the story runs on a single thread – around a toaster that the protagonist (had gifted at a marriage) wants to reclaim at any cost. Helmed by debutant Vivek Daschaudhary, the film goes too far to sustain its quirky-meter with a bunch of absurd characters across 2 hours.What starts as a wacky idea descends into complete chaos.
The film’s main problem is that it is set in a world too detached from reality. The characters feel like flabby extensions of loose ideas, presumably imagining a miserly, middle-class perfume-shop owner like Ramakant would react while struggling to run his home. And they go horribly wrong with it. It is exaggerated beyond control, resulting in an outlandish mess that is ultimately hard to digest.
It is perfectly fine to build a story around an unlikeable character placed in a series of Catch-22 situations, but the storyteller must offer the audience an opportunity to be amused by his circumstances. For instance, the idea of a sanskari neighbour who craves nighttime action is fantastic on paper; however, she is treated like a ‘nut-case’ who ceases to be interesting once the mystery of her life is out in the open.
Most of the subplots and supporting players are fleshed out vaguely; from a politician desperate to erase evidence of his flamboyant sex life and a cop chasing a toaster containing a memory card, to a hero’s friend trying to trap a repressed neighbour and a motormouth NGO owner. Even the protagonist’s wife, despite her instinctive mind, hardly gets a chance to showcase her mettle.
The writers largely appear clueless in conjuring a compelling setup where these distinct worlds can effectively clash. The film is also slightly insensitive in its casual treatment of crime; at least two innocent people die accidentally owing to Ramakant’s decisions, yet he barely experiences remorse or guilt. The ending, where his problems conveniently vanish and he goes on a night ride with his wife, appears tone-deaf.
Toaster works neither as a crime setup nor as a comedy. There is little conviction in the execution and the actors, at best, try to play along in the hope that the gags or antics might land at some point. They simply do not. At a certain level, the film sums up everything wrong with the current Hindi film industry: it is put together because it makes commercial sense, but without any real belief or understanding of whom it is trying to cater to.
Music and Other Departments?
Aman Pant’s background score, despite the chaos, has a unique texture. Its lively, peppy vibe keeps the viewer on their toes and allows one to appreciate the madness to an extent. The flashy lighting and bold colours contribute to the visual appeal, even if the writing fails to harness this potential.
The film’s premise is packed with a few terrific ideas, but the screenplay makes little use of them, stretching the concepts to the point of boredom. Unsurprisingly, the editing is all over the place.
Highlights?
Wacky premise
Drawbacks?
Chaotic execution
Clumsy writing
Over-the-top performances
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
Not at all
Toaster Netflix Movie Reviewed by M9 News
