One wants to like – it’s beautifully shot, it celebrates silence like very few films do, and its trailers promise a high-tension thriller. Perhaps it’s the fact that the story is a blatant copy of several others, most prominently O Henry’s The Last Leaf. Perhaps it’s the fact that the actors cannot do justice to the potential of their characters. Perhaps it’s because the director couldn’t hold on to the reins and guide the film to a suitable finish. But the film left me cold, and sometimes bored.
It begins with the lighting of a diya, the ululation of women at a puja in Bengal, and a performance of Bengali folk theatre. It is 1953, in Manikpur. Zamindar Roy Chowdhury (Barun Chanda) is being warned of the impending execution of the Act that will abolish the zamindari system by his loyal aide. Meanwhile, his daughter Pakhi (Sonakshi) is busy showing us she’s enjoying the jatra, until she shows us she has an asthma attack.
As her father tells a recuperating Pakhi the story of the Bhil Raja who could not be killed because his life was hidden in a single parrot among the thousands in the jungle, we are reminded of what a terrible actress Sonakshi is. The film has a complex plot, involving the Zamindari Act, a doomed romance, and an interrogation of the idea of trust. However, it tries to keep itself light for the first half, with a breezy courtship and witty interludes. The second half is much darker and, sadly, inconsistent. For this structure to be sustained, the movie needed very good actors, and neither Sonakshi nor Ranveer Singh can deliver. There are some enjoyable parts, especially in the first half, which focuses on the relationship between Pakhi and Varun Srivastav (Ranveer). Her line maaro-ing eventually leads to a hilarious lesson in painting watercolours.
However, there is a certain indecisiveness to the plot that the story can’t quite recover from. The director tries to highlight what is unsaid, and this could have made for a layered relationship if he had picked a better cast. With the leads unable to emote with the precision and ease they are required to, this ploy doesn’t quite work.
The twist is made apparent as we edge towards the interval, and the second half is essentially the denouement. What annoyed me about the second half, aside from its pace and clichéd turns, is that it collapses into a rehashed story. While the director has acknowledged that the film was adapted from The Last Leaf, he hasn’t been able to work in the subtlety and tragedy. As a result, the end struck me as a mess of bizarre turns, inexplicable reactions, and stretched sentiment.
The Verdict: Lootera is ambitious, but its cast fails to match up to its canvas.