Decided to watch Ludo as it had invaded the mindspaces of most whatsapp groups. Here's my take on the movie.

Ludo is a cryptic comedy crime thriller by the maverick filmmaker Anurag Basu . The film is themed on the premise that "Ludo is life & Life is Ludo". It has four story tracks representing the four shades of Ludo - which are connected by a comic villain serving as the dice that connects the four quadrants of the game of Ludo. The story is delivered in a sutradhar mode - with Yamraj (Anurag basu) & Chitragupta (Rahul Bagga) discussing the philosophy of life and the shades of gray that blur the boundaries of good and bad in the real world. Yamraj - the wise one who understands life a little better in its entirety - and hence is the one controlling the narrative. Ludo attempts to extract pragmatism out of the chaos of life - by looking at it from a distance and by realizing all the coins of Ludo eventually are ordained to reach the center. This storytelling scheme in someways also defines Anurag's approach to film-making in recent times as one sees shades of this in Jagga Jasoos as well. However unlike Jagga which bombed, Ludo manages to keep us by and large engaged. There are times when it does seem to meander a bit, but a quick transition to one of the other tracks helps restore sanity and coherence. If the above description starts sounding a bit cryptic - well that is what the film is - and while it might sound a bit "over the top" - it is actually not so. Perhaps what works to keep the film adequately engaging and entertaining is the enviable starcast Anurag has assembled for Ludo. The inimitable Pankaj Tripathy as "Sattu Bhaiya"- the comic villain and the common thread across the 4 colors of Ludo is astoundingly brilliant. Rajkumar Rao (Alu) as the silent foolhardy romantic, committed to pluck the moon if need be, for his childhood love, once again delivers a fantastic character which has the potential to live through the times. I wont be surprised if "Sattu" and "Alu" find their way into neighborhood skits & school plays. Abhishek Bachchan playing to his strength as Bittu - a hardened criminal of the past, now in transformation do some good for the sake of his child makes quite an impact with the silent & poignant scenes which are relatively few in this film. Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana, Asha Negi, Rohit Saraf, Pearle Maane, Shalini Vatsa create a well hued ensemble by playing their parts as one of the four colored coins in the Ludo of life with measured panache. Despite all of them having a bagful of strong performances in the past - which so often color audience's perception of them (and at times even their perception of themselves!), in Ludo they seem be tailor made for the roles Anurag has cast them in. The film has some amazing shots that define the narrative - across action, romance and plain simple reflections on life. Apart from story, screenplay and direction, Anurag has donned the role of the cinematographer (jointly) in this film - and so deserves a lot of credit for the strong visual impact that gets created on the whole. Despite the fast pace, the intense and somewhat cryptic storyline and a bit of dark comedy thrown in, all credit to Preetam for the music that manages to stand out - in fact it serves well to temper the pace and soothe the chaos which is otherwise overarching and overwhelming, in all likelihood by design. While all the songs are good, "Humko Abbad Kar do" and "Hardum Humdum" by Arijeet clearly stands out in the sense that these songs will live beyond the movie. Lyricists Sayeed Quadri and Sandeep Srivastava should also be called out for these two compositions. Overall Ludo is a fascinating weekend watch if you don't try to be too cerebral about it. Most importantly it re-establishes Anurag Basu as a storyteller with a difference who loves to experiment - which in turn hopefully makes this industry richer and breaks the notion that "Large Canvas crime thrillers"and "Larger than Life feel good romantic dramas" are the be all and end all of commercial Bollywood.

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