'Kartam Bhugtam' review: Wayward thriller only works in parts
Kartam Bhugtam has an interesting (if not completely novel) premise that should have ideally taken care of the larger scheme of things. However, its first and second half feel like two completely different movies, eventually making it difficult to fully immerse oneself in the project. Its first part is listless, with all the surprises reserved for post-intermission. It's not horrible, but not remarkable either.
This is what happens in the film
Dev Joshi (Shreyas Talpade) comes to India from Auckland to take care of his ancestral properties and finances after his father's sudden death. However, in India, a slew of tragedies await him, and he soon finds himself stuck in a rut, with none of his tasks reaching the finish line. At last, he seeks the advice of Anna, a noted astrologer. Will he help?
An idea that may have glistened on paper
Kartam Bhugtam, in addition to being an argument between predetermination and free will, characterized through Anna (Vijay Raaz) and Dev's characters, also seems to be in another internal tussle: ideas versus execution. It suffers from the same problem as director Soham P Shah's Kaal, which set itself so well that you kept hoping for curveballs one after the other, only to finally greet disappointment.
Starts off decently, but then becomes a little annoying
The film begins with a brisk pace, and Raaz packs a punch with his dialogue delivery, said in his famous tone that has cemented him in the industry. However, the camera seems to be obsessed with his close-ups, and a dialogue he says at the beginning reverberates endlessly to the point of annoyance. In some scenes, it's redolent of Fear Files.
Overreliance on the BGM never helped any film!
The Shah directorial has many signs of wayward, confused filmmaking (like outdated jokes not landing; would you laugh at Swiggy and Google being called mausi?) Another issue is its screeching background music that is always played at high decibels to accentuate what the characters say or do. In doing so, both the dialogue and the film's ideas end up drowned.
Lack of profundity means it's drab most of the time
KB suffers from its lack of gravitas; scenes just move from the first to the second to the third. Either the audience isn't given much time to register them or they are tortured with the same sequence multiple times. Minor spoiler, but conversations between Dev and Anna are only a handful, and it's an opportunity lost to not have them share more dialogues.
Half-baked exploration about man's dependence on shortcuts
Even though Dev undergoes a whirlwind of emotions and has an incredibly tough time in India, his pathos and melancholy never take the plunge from the screen to the viewers. Having said that, through his character, the film makes some good points about man's descent into madness after one's overdependence on numerology/astrology. Thankfully, there's no preaching involved in this aspect.
Better second half, but it's too late by then
After being stuck in a loop in its first half, the movie finally finds itself right after intermission, fooling you into believing that it will make up for lost time, but as it often happens in such cases, it's too little too late. A better example of a man's detachment from reality (an idea KB explores) is Raghubir Yadav's short from Darna Mana Hai.
Can wait for OTT release; it gets 2/5 stars
In the hands of another, more experienced director, Kartam Bhugtam would have turned out to be a far more engaging and entertaining experience. Sadly, it makes the dire mistake of putting all its eggs in the same basket, and a sense of urgency and tension (a pre-requisite of thrillers) is tragically amiss. From every step it takes forward, it takes two back.
