Dream Girl cuts almost straight to the chase, and after a very brief set-up, you land up in Karam’s (Ayushman Khurana) workspace, a call centre which services clients who need female company. Like you know from the trailer, Karam too is a call centre executive who naughty-talks his way into caller’s lives with his charm, wit and conversational personality. And this quickly leads to complications with his father, his fiancée’s family, the police, etc. Despite this quick pace, everything that happens until the interval, you already know from the trailer. To top it off, the makers wanted to cover this up with a “message” about loneliness. These bits make the film seem directionless even though it is focused on one story-line throughout. 

What also does the film good is that it walks the talk in its story. That it goes all “meta” on us by being just about ordinary is a call for us to be more accepting of failure. After all, in its own way, it is a love letter to its younger self. And no such letter can be called outright bad.

Anyway, as far as addressing mental illnesses goes, Judgementall Hai Kya doesn’t do any more harm than already done by Hindi movies, even if it doesn’t aim at respecting the affected individuals’ fate either. For that, I am grateful. Small mercies. In fact, the social cause is not on its priority list, and it works in the film’s favour. It aims to be a thriller and thrill it does not unless you call 2-inch long, flying cockroaches appearing on-screen thrilling.

…a film is not just made by the director or a handful of his supporting producers. It is also about the hundreds of others involved, and in this case, it is also about the man who has worked for almost two decades in guiding disadvantaged geniuses to their rightful places.

Kalank can be watched for its overall decent attempt at creating a visual experience, at taking the story beyond its usual one-line plot level, at paying some attention to character-writing and dialogue.

When a review becomes more about the viewer’s experience, emotions and thought-flow, it is a movie well-made, a movie one must watch. Even if you might want to watch it over and over again.

It is a shame then that this already engaged frame of mind isn’t capitalised upon. It becomes a regular Ajay-Devgn-plays-honest-guy vs. bad-guy routine. Except of course, that it is based on a true life story.

The focus is clearly the story, or to take it a level further – the invention and the social milieu that called for the invention.

Not that punch-lines, strong opinions or style was ever unenjoyable in Kashyap films, it’s just that here they are conspicuous by their absence – in a good way. It is nice to see a departure from the usual, even if it doesn’t completely work.

I feel the need to visit this film again and have my kids watch it too – because this is a once in the blue moon film, the details of which, cannot be digested in one viewing.