Gumraah is a remake of Tamil film Thadam. Those who haven’t watched Thadam are in for a superb treat. It’s a wow film for those who haven’t experienced the original one. Those who have watched the original have nothing new to catch up in Gumraah as it is a simple copy paste. In Bollywood, no thriller has used the twins formula in such an enthralling way like Gumraah and the credit goes to Thadam which has set a new benchmark in Indian Cinema for bringing new formula. Gumraah has used the twins theme in the best possible way to surprise the audience and deliver a satisfactory and fulfilling product. All the credit of Gumraah goes to Thadam as it had a wonderful script for a double role with never seen before twists and turns in Indian Cinema. Thadam had a never seen before subject and hence it was remade in Telugu as Red and now in Hindi as Gumraah. Gumraah has made the best use of cinematic liberty to deliver a thrilling ride.
Inspector Shivani Mathur (Mrunal Thakur) is assigned to investigate a murder of a man named Aakash. She finds two look-alike suspects, one who is a civil engineer named Arjun Sehgal (Aditya Roy Kapur) and another one is a part time criminal named Sooraj Rana aka Ronnie (Aditya Roy Kapur). Both the twins fight like enemies when they see each other. Things get complicated when they find out that both of them are identical twins. The superior of Shivani, Inspector Dhiren Yadav (Ronit Bose Roy) has an old grudge with Arjun and decides to frame him in the murder. Ronnie is smart enough and knows the loopholes in law and order. Things become more complicated and tough for Shivani when she uncovers new facts about the case. How does she solve the case? What was the real motive of the murder? Who is the real murderer? Who will win in this cat and mouse game? To find out all the answers you will have to watch the film.
Aditya Roy Kapur has played a double role for the first time in his career and he nails both the roles like a boss. The films having twins in it have contradictory nature of both the characters. Aditya Roy Kapur as Arjun Sehgal is the same old romantic person which we have seen in the past. Aditya as Sooraj Rana is bang on and he nails the accent and delivers a wonderful performance. Sooraj has the personality of a macho man and is totally opposite to Arjun. Mrunal Thakur essays the role of a cop for the first time in her career. She is decent but could have been better. She doesn’t leave much impact on being a tough cop. We have seen Ronit Bose Roy playing a tough cop in the past and this was such a tailor made role for him which he has nailed it. Vedika Pinto looks very gorgeous and delivers a decent performance. Rather than acting, it is Vedika’s beauty that leaves us in awe. Rest of the cast is decent.
Gumraah as the name suggests misleads you many times as a viewer and makes an intriguing watch. Thadam which means trail also had the cop going for a trail. Gumraah is that suspense thriller which has a suspenseful and satisfactory climax. It keeps you hooked till the end. The ones who have seen the original and know the suspense already won’t get surprised. The main problem about remaking a thriller is that once you know the suspense then there isn’t anything for you in store. The recent thrillers which have been remade in Bollywood are Cuttputlli (Ratsasan), Hit (Hit), Vikram Vedha (Vikram Vedha) and Drishyam 2 (Drishyam 2). Those who have already watched original flicks will just watch the remakes as a repeat watch.
There are 2 sides of remaking a film. First is you simply copy paste the original one and another you make some changes in the remake. If the changes are made and it goes wrong then the whole product fails miserably. Hit: The 1st Case was a very good film and the Bollywood remake changed the climax and ended up being an average affair instead of ending up as a good film. Drishyam 2, Vikram Vedha were honest remakes which stayed honest to the originals. Cuttputlli failed miserably because of the terrible and cheap presentation. Gumraah doesn’t try to experiment or do any new things and stays honest to its original.
Direction of Vardhan Ketkar is decent. Vardhan Ketkar had a readymade script and had to just copy paste things and has done a decent job as a debutant. Vardhan has a long way to go and has a chance to rectify his mistakes in the future. He doesn’t try to experiment with the script and plays safe.
Thadam has some cheap scenes and had low grade presentation in some scenes due to its low budget. Gumraah doesn’t try to rectify these things and also has some cheap dialogues, unwanted kissing scenes to please the audience. The 1st half feels a bit stretched because of some unwanted scenes. The main magic of Gumraah lies in the 2nd half and especially in the last 15-20 mins. Gumraah is a fast paced thriller and it doesn’t make you feel bored.
I believe that a thriller should not have any kind of songs. Songs in thrillers disturb the whole narrative and break the link. The music album of Gumraah is decent though. The thriller should keep the audience glued to their seats and shouldn’t waste much time. Gumraah has some loopholes and flaws that can’t be overlooked. As Thadam had some cliches and outdated scenes which harmed the narrative slightly, Gumraah also repeats the same mistake. Gumraah had a scope to improve in this area. The audience in the South is familiar with such kinds of outdated conflicts, but here in Bollywood the taste of the audience is different. Little bit of editing would have made Gumraah more crispy.
Gumraah is a very much watchable film for those who haven’t seen the original. Those who have seen the original can watch it for the performances and a repeat viewing as a revision of the original or can skip it. A satisfactory and thrilling ride which serves the twin theme like never before. As a fresher be ready to be Gumraah and surprised.
Rating – 3/5*
Watch the trailer below:
