I’m going with two out of five for director Aditya Datt’s Table No 21. Even dependable actors like Paresh Rawal and Rajeev Khandelwal sleepwalk through their roles.

Echoing films as diverse as Oldboy and Slumdog Millionaire, director Aditya Datt creates a reality game show-revenge saga that gathers some steam in the last act, but by then it’s too little, too late.

The drama is woven around a welter of lies, betrayal and brutality. The lead pair is trapped in a web that is as much of their own making as it is of the man who manipulates them like a master puppeteer. But rarely does this dark thriller hit home with sufficient force.

Table No. 21 is a shameful waste of some really good actors where the makers sleepwalked through the entire film. Best to avoid this one.