Gurgaon is the latest addition to noir thrillers in hindi cinema. Based in the urban part of Gurgaon where characters are earning their livelihood in the cut throat business of real estate. Surprisingly enough there is no protagonist in the film as one have seen in Anurag Kashyap’s ugly, when all the characters show their darkest side when they are being downright opportunist in the most evil way. Nikki (Akshay Oberoi) is the son of a real estate mafia Kheri Singh (Pankaj Tripathi), who suspects Nikki on the night when Nikki’s wife of Preet (Ragini Khanna) goes missing. Nikki has played a bet on the cricket match and lost heavy so he decides to get money from his own father while raising dead past of Kheri Singh.
Cinematographer turned director Shankar Raman’s thriller ticks all the boxes of neo-noir with use of hand held camera, haunting background score and dark scenes. Shot division does not give too much time to breathe as the film runs through the screen after setting up the plot and characters in first 20 minutes. Story of the film is not a very novel one though treatment is intense with fast paced editing. Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor’s music does just about enough to give depths to the some scene but largely floats on the surface of screenplay. Dialogues of the film are real and earthy like the plot and kudos to Vipin Bhati for resisting the urge of writing hindi punch lines in order to get those whistles. Film does not rely too much on silence to embrace the expressions of a scene but rather passes through sub plots quickly in order to reach the explosive climax.
Pankaj Tripathi as always does a fantastic job as he has played a menacing man a million times by now since his Sultan in Gangs of Wasseypur. Akshay Oberoi borrows his performance from the experience of his previous release Laal Rang. His character arc is different but externals such as language and reaction to the environment of a semi rural place full of gangsters is similar from Laal Rang. Ragini Khanna did not have a lot of screen time in the film but she fits well with the drama going around her. Overall Gurgaon is a one time watch with nothing new to offer that you have not seen before. Take it one Friday at a time!!.
