John Day Movie Review: Profitable Viewing Experience
Reviews
oi-IANS
By Ians English
Rating:
3.0/5
This
is
no
place
for
the
weak.
This
world
as
we
know
it.
And
this
film
as
we
discover
with
the
thrill
of
chancing
upon
an
unexpected
little
gem.
Inspired
from
a
Spanish
film,
is
it?
I
really
don't
give
a
fig
where
writer-director
Ahishor
Solomon
got
the
raw
material
for
this
gripping
cat-and-mouse
tale.
Does
the
kitchen
where
the
food
on
the
table
originates
really
mean
anything?
What
counts
is
the
quotient
of
curiosity
and
suspense
simulated
by
the
script.
And
there,
John
Day
ranks
very
high.
Not
for
a
while
have
we
seen
a
film
so
steeped
in
despair,
so
swathed
in
anxiety,
so
audaciously
draped
in
despair
and
yet
it
engages
our
senses
without
miring
the
plot
in
morbidity.
The
story
is
not
for
the
squeamish.
The
two
main
characters
are
constantly
haunted
by
their
irrevocably
tragic
parts.
Naseeruddin
Shah
and
Randeep
Hooda,
real-life
guru
and
pupil,
play
people
who
know
no
happiness.
Incidents
from
their
past
continue
to
shadow
and
chase
their
present.
There
is
scarcely
a
moment
in
the
plot
when
John
(Shah)
and
Gautam
(Hooda)
are
happy
except
when
they
are
with
their
beloved
'Other'.
But
then
Shernaz
Patel,
who
plays
Naseer's
wife
and
the
very
beautiful
foreigner
Elena
Kazan
who
plays
Randeep
girl
are
troubled
by
their
own
ghosts.
So
where
do
we
go
for
comfort?
John
Day
is
a
restless
edgy
drama
of
the
doomed
and
the
damned.
This
not
the
first
time
Randeep
has
played
a
fugitive
shadowed
by
his
own
past.
But
this
is
certainly
his
most
layered
character
which
he
performs
with
the
kind
of
gravelly
gusto
that
allows
us
to
get
only
as
close
to
the
sullen
character
as
he
wants
us.
Some
of
the
things
that
the
characters
do
are
unmistakably
brutal.
An
innocent
woman's
head
is
shattered
by
a
hammer,
a
man's
tongue
is
bitten
off
and
another
man's
neck
is
also
bitten
off.
It's
a
cold
brutal
world
with
no
comic
relief,
at
least
none
where
you
laugh
out
loud
at
the
ironies
of
life.
While
the
two
principal
actors
get
under
their
characters'
skins,
other
actors
seem
equally
at
home
in
this
inky
kingdom
of
greed
and
gluttony.
Vipin
Sharma
and
Makrand
Despande
are
very
engaging
in
their
supporting
parts.
They
make
doom
seem
anything
but
dull.
But
the
film's
third
hero
is
Sandeep
Chowta's
background
score.
It
creates
a
world
of
emotions
beyond
the
spoken
words
for
Naseer
and
Randeep.
For
a
film
about
losers
John
Day
proves
to
be
a
paradoxically
profitable
movie-viewing
experience
for
the
audience.
IANS
Have
a
look
at
the
slide
show
for
images
and
a
detailed
review
Engages
Us
Not
for
a
while
have
we
seen
a
film
so
steeped
in
despair,
so
swathed
in
anxiety,
so
audaciously
draped
in
despair
and
yet
it
engages
our
senses
without
miring
the
plot
in
morbidity.
Draws
The
Audience
It
is
very
difficult
to
speak
out
openly
about
the
characters
and
their
motivations
without
giving
away
the
plot.
John
Day
is
the
kind
of
clenched
yarn
that
makes
you
forget
that
yawning
distance
between
cinema
and
the
audience.
You
become
one
with
the
character's
battles,
without
getting
judgmental
over
their
actions.
Randeep
Hooda
The
character
played
by
Randeep
Hooda
has
a
brilliantly
written
monologue
with
a
comatose
character
where
we
get
to
know
how
much
this
brutal
man
loves
his
woman.
This
man
can
die
for
money
and
for
love.
It's
a
dichotomous
character
torn
between
self-abnegation
and
vendetta.
Mirror
Image
In
a
way
Randeep
character
plays
a
mirror-image
of
Naseer's
banker
gone
amok.
This
is
not
the
first
time
that
India's
most
vaunted
actor
has
played
a
wizened
common
man
pushed
to
a
corner
by
the
monstrous
corruption
in
out
socio-political
system.
Cat
And
Mouse
Chase
John
Day
brings
the
indomitable
Naseeruddin
and
the
intriguing
Randeep
for
a
taut
cat-and-mouse
chase
that
stays
a
step
ahead
of
the
audience
right
till
the
shattering
end-game.
Naseeruddin
Shah
Remember
Neeraj
Pathak's
A
Wednesday?
Here
In
John
Day
the
terror
that
Naseer's
character
battles
is
far
more
personal,
and
hence
in
many
ways,
much
more
moving
and
compelling.
His
greatness
as
an
actor
doesn't
come
in
the
way
of
letting
the
character
of
the
common
man
have
his
say
in
the
most
natural
way
possible.
Randeep's
Softer
Side
Towards
the
end-game
when
the
momentum
gets
frenzied
beyond
recuperation,
Randeep's
character's
softer
side
emerges.
No
Escape
This
is
a
world
where
there
is
no
escape
from
sorrow
and
grief.
Enemies
are
clobbered
and
butchered
mercilessly.
Not
because
they
deserve
to
die.
But
because
life
is
as
randomly
brutal
as
we
make
it
for
ourselves.
And
cinema
such
as
this
reminds
us
that
moral
values
of
good,
evil,
justice
and
comeuppance
mean
nothing
to
those
who
have
nothing
to
lose.