Rajkummar Rao starrer 'Trapped' hits the theatres
The Rajkummar Rao starrer 'Trapped' which released on Friday "manages to grippingly hold your attention with...an underwhelming setting...", wrote Mid-Day. "The film is compelling but it could have been more cleverly plotted", wrote NDTV while India Today said "Rajkummar Rao and his terrific act deserve a watch". It was rated 4/5 (Mid-Day), 3.5/5 (NDTV, India Today).
Trapped, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and starring Rajkummar Rao in the lead role, is in theatres this week. How good or bad is Trapped? Here is our Trapped movie review.Trapped Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Geetanjali ThapaTrapped Director: Vikramaditya MotwaneTrapped Rating:(3.5/5)Trapped. The word is onomatopoeic. You know what it means. You know the feeling. You know the helplessness. So when a man is trapped in his own house, without food, water or electricity, how does he survive? Because survive he must. On the other side of this ordeal lies his version of the Promised Land. At least what he has promised to himself: Noorie and he will have many babies. While he is haunted by the pessimistic What ifs.Director Vikramaditya Motwane gives Bollywood a fantastic albeit loopholed survival thriller in Trapped. It feels a bit weird to realise that as a director, Motwane is just two-films old... even though both of them (Udaan and Lootera) were artistic marvels in themselves. In Trapped, Motwane carries forward the legacy he seems to have inherited from the Anurag Kashyap school of filmmaking. The director's efforts shine through in every frame, in every sigh that his protagonist takes, in every moment that the viewer sits trapped inside the theatre with his/her gaze constantly travelling to the glowing EXIT sign. Trapped makes you feel trapped, but not in the way an MSG film would make you. You feel every bit helpless as Shaurya (Rajkummar Rao), who wakes up, takes his first step outside his new house, walks back in to get his mobile phone, and wham goes the door.Trapped is the story of the much-in-love-with-his-colleague Shaurya, who tries all awkward proposal techniques till Noorie (Geetanjali Thapa) goes out on a date with him. She is to get married in two months. "Arranged marriage?" Shaurya asks. She nods. Two months pass by in the blink of an eye, and two days before Noorie is to take the train home to get married, Shaurya promises to move out of his flat that he shares with three other guys, to a new home. He'll arrange everything in a day, he tells her.A shady broker catches Shaurya trying to cut a deal with other agents. He takes Shaurya to a high-rise which is yet to have residents move in. Some court-case jhamela, says the broker. All too relatable if you have had the (mis)fortune of hunting for a flat in a short period of time in a city like Mumbai or Delhi. Shaurya moves to this new flat, the door to which needs a bit of push from the outside if you want to get in. When he wakes up the next morning, there's no electricity, his phone's running out of battery, there's no water.In Trapped, Motwane captures an entire panoply of emotions on Rao's face. Rao goes from irritation to anger to helplessness to fear, dangling between hope and despair, and clutching on to dear life. There are many close-ups of Rao's face, and he nails nearly all of them. Besides the mostly taut story, Trapped relies heavily on its lead actor. And Rao throws his lot with the film. He does a fabulous job as Shaurya, adding another feather to his already-decked cap.There's a rat, there are occasional visits from pigeons. Shot in a month and inside a flat in Mumbai, Trapped tells a tale of survival peppered with the occasional humour and a few heart-in-the-mouth scenes. Therefore when the film fails to address some basic questions, you feel let down. When Shaurya goes missing, for example, there doesn't seem to be a single family member or friend or colleague concerned about his whereabouts. It's almost as if the guy exists in vacuum. You hope for some sort of answer towards the end, but there's silence there too.The runtime of the film works in its favour. In less than 2 hours, your patience levels are fine. The absence of songs makes sure the pace of Trapped is not hampered.Watch Trapped this week. Be thankful that you have the option of opening a door and getting out. And make sure you double-check the locks before that door shuts and you're, well, you know.(The writer tweets as @ananya116.)