I start to watch without any expectations but really it nailed it.. Really it has too many characters and complex story but can understand.. Lot of black humour and emotions also.. Must watchable movie...!!!

Ludo (2020) : Movie Review -

Since the corona pandemic and lockdown bollywood audience has got literally nothing watchful that can be enjoyed like a real good film and then some films tried to gain benefit through OTT release. But these OTT releases saw huge drop in number of audience and in quality of films. Now it's fair to say that the new joining in the list is this human anthology directed by Anurag Basu called Ludo. When there were no expectations after goofy trailer, Ludo was unexpectedly looking a clever film and was almost certain to end as an Unexpected Diwali Dhamaka and suddenly last 20-25 minutes pulled it down to join the said elite club.

Ludo has multiple stories connected to each other somehow, some way, somewhere and so the plotting settles nicely at the beginning. The introduction scenes of this big cast takes lot of time but not harmful at all due to entertaining and engaging storytelling. Every charcter is established perfectly and almost every character provides some genuine laughters and hilarious scenes. Especially, Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi have got some hysterical and interesting dialogues. The rest of the characters are normal yet connectable because of simplicity. Ludo gains more momentum with the narration theory handled by Yamraj and some adult stuff involved in it.

Acting wise as already mentioned Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi are the table toppers followed by Aditya Roy Kapoor, Fatima Sana Sheikh and Sanya Malhotra. The supporting cast is okay but most importantly everyone has got enough screentime to make an impact. It's the writing of the characters which doesn't show same cleverness to every character, some are blessed with intelligence while some are cursed and totally destroyed. The destruction of characters feels strong in last 30 minutes when they are seen doing rubbish and insensible things.

Ludo is 150 minutes long film and still has enough grip to hold you on your seat. However, couple of songs are damn boring and useless which fooled the editor's eyes. Dialogues are too funny and has vulgar touch, afterall it's Netflix and without abusive language they are incomplete. No doubts, the dialogues make you laugh, make you think sometimes even though the presentation of that particular scene is rough. Ludo could have been a great anthology if there was no melodrama and dumb romance because in crime dramas you don't want typical emotions to jeopardize entire smart narrative. Anurag Basu first promises you a clever film set in dramatic mess and then himself makes dumb moves to solve the mess. How disappointing it was to see this surprisingly good film going down as expected before those surprises. Overall, Ludo is just another average flick saved by some funny scenes even though at early stage it was way ahead of expectations.

RATING - 5/10*

Ludo is the kind of film that works because it embraces dank humor early on and rides off all the way into the sunset with it. Not just a dark comedy of errors, the four different pieces of Ludo overlap into each other by way of clever conception and scripting. The good thing about it is that each segment holds good as a standalone as well as part of a meshed storyline. This is largely due to several knockout performances we come across in the film's 2.5-hour runtime.

Pankaj Tripathi leads from the front as gangster Sattu, who's involved in a big-money deal. Part of this segment also features Rohit Suresh Saraf as a hypermarket employee and Pearle Maaney as a Malayali nurse (with all her innate Mallu-ness). Tripathi truly knocks it out of the park enacting serious stretches laced with plenty of dark humor. Pearle Maaney also delivers the goods with aplomb, never for once overdoing the Mallu gimmick.

Abhishek Bachchan plays Bittu, a local thug who's also a single dad. After being released from prison, he wishes to reconnect with his daughter but fate has other plans. Mini (Inayat Verma - gosh, what a cutie!) enters his life, and everything changes. Anurag Basu picking Abhishek for this role makes so much sense given he's the (real-life) doting dad to Aaradhya. Abhishek gets a couple of emotionally charged scenes and he does good on those. The Bittu-Mini duo is tremendously funny and cute.

A sex tape begins doing its rounds on the internet, putting old flames Akash (Aditya Roy Kapur, whose vulnerabilities are put to good use by the director) and Shruti (Sanya Malhotra, who seems to be getting better with each film) in jeopardy - actually, more for the latter, as Shruti's marriage to a wealthy businessman is set to happen soon. A segment that's the equivalent of an adult rom-com, the memorable things about it include Sanya's performance and some hilarious moments, especially in the final act.

Alu (Rajkummar Rao),a bearer at a restaurant (and a stage performer),still yearns for his (ex) lover Pinky (Fatima Sana Shaikh) who's now married with a kid. The first half of Ludo makes you believe that this is one of the lesser intriguing segments but what transpires in the second completely undoes that. Rao gets more screentime and he shines, as expected. So does Fatima, in a role that requires her to be selfish and always getting insanely difficult tasks done by her ever-willing ex. The pairing is brilliant and this helps elevate the segment to one of Ludo's best.

The connective tissue between the four segments - that of gods discussing butterfly effect, grey-shaded humans, and the comparison of life to a game of Ludo (where's the subtlety, bro?) - is the film's weakest element. Even with a COVID mention, this whole expository stretch felt prolonged, pointless, and indulgent. A multi-narrative film like Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Super Deluxe did away with this and it worked wonders for that one. I'd still recommend Ludo for what it is - an engaging dark comedy with a detailed, well-structured screenplay.