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Vodka Diaries backdrop
18 January 2018Hindi112 min

Vodka Diaries

4.214 reviews
CriticsUnfavorable

Bayesian avg · 14 critic reviews

7.5+ Exceptional · 6.5 Recommended · 5.0 Mixed

4.52 ratings
Users

User Score · avg of 2 ratings

8.0+ Exceptional · 7.0 Recommended · 5.5 Mixed

In the misty town of Manali, ACP Ashwini Dixit attempts to solve a series of mysterious murders happening in a single night, which might be connected to the night club, Vodka Diaries.

Critic Consensus

Critical reception for Vodka Diaries is largely negative, with the majority of reviewers finding the film underwhelming as a psychological thriller. A handful of critics acknowledged its visual craft and some suspenseful moments, and one noted the film's original ambition within the Bollywood genre. However, the most consistent criticism across reviews is the weak, derivative screenplay — several critics directly compared it unfavorably to Shutter Island — compounded by a climactic reveal that fails to satisfy. Underutilisation of a capable cast and significant narrative loopholes were also frequently cited.

14 reviews · 2 positive · 5 mixed · 6 negative

Praised: Cinematography and suspenseful momentsCriticised: Derivative, illogical screenplay and weak twist

AI-generated summary of 14 critic reviews · may contain errors

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Critic Reviews (14)

Rajeev MasandTop Critic· IBNLive
3.0
"If you do decide to watch the film, you'd do well to take a cue from the film's title and go in comfortably inebriated to get through the brain scramble that it is."
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Shubhra GuptaTop Critic· Indian Express
3.0
"On paper, Vodka Diaries, starring Kay Kay Menon, Raima Sen, Mandira Bedi, Sharib Hashmi, may have sounded like an engaging whodunit. But what we see is clearly not."
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Anupama ChopraTop Critic· Film Companion
2.0
"Debutant director Kushal Srivastava is trying to create a twisty suspense thriller – a la M. Night Shyamalan. But the script is riddled with football-size loopholes."
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Subhash K Jha· SKJBollywoodNews
6.0
"Vodka Diaries is not a great suspense drama  when compared with theHitchcockian  tradition  . God knows, the genre has not been  much explored in Bollywood. Still in its infancy the whodunit gets a rather likable shake-up on this occasion . Vodka Diaries  stays true to  the path of  deception and betrayal that the suspense genre adapts and makes some sharp swings into  the unexpected towards the end."
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IANS· Sify
6.0
"Do stay for the end credits to hear Rekha Bhardwaj and Ustad Rashid Khan crooning "Sakhi ri". It's a sobering send-off to a suspenseful and original journey."
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Koimoi Team· KoiMoi
5.0
"As a one-time watch Vodka Diaries could be called as a good entertaining movie with some really well-directed scenes and power packed dialogues. But do not let your expectations soar too high because the fall after that might hurt you real bad and you might return home with a baggage of disappointment and unsatisfaction with you."
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Rajat Tripathi· Bollywood Life
5.0
"Watch Vodka Diaries for it is a brilliantly shot film capable of keeping you on the edge of your seat. But remember, the big reveal might not live up to your expectations if you have watched enough psychological thrillers."
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Lasyapriya Sundaram· Times Of India
5.0
"The film's dialogue writing also leaves much to be desired. While the mystery should be intriguing in a suspense thriller, what remains a mystery is the lack of anything intriguing."
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Rohit Vats· Hindustan Times
4.0
"Vodka Diaries is about under-utilised actors and losing a promising opening. It probably needed a more thorough approach."
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Udita Jhunjhunwala· Firstpost
4.0
"Despite their best efforts, the moments between Bedi and Menon are awkward and though the seasoned Menon throws in all he's got, even his handlebar moustache looks weary by the end of this sobering slog."
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Kriti Tulsiani· IBNLive
3.0
"The end only makes you feel as there's not enough Vodka that'll help you survive this film, which it seems, is also the result of a bad Vodka hangover."
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Sukanya Verma· Rediff
2.0
"Imagine Shutter Island's big twist taken completely out of context to reiterate Bollywood's hurt on the same spot again solution. What emerges is as plausible as a pig head in a frog's body."
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R.M. Vijayakar· IndiaWest
2.0
"The film drags on 30 minutes more than the earlier film, with even less material to go by. In both cases, we end up wondering if we had not been better off watching even "1921," if not some other really good film."
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Suparna Sharma· Deccan Chronicle
2.0
"Vodka Diaries is a very bad, very poor, often-incoherent and illogical pirated copy of Shutter Island."
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Cast & Crew

Cast

Details

Release Date
18 January 2018
Runtime
112 min
Language
Hindi
Genre
Drama

User Ratings & Reviews

Users4.52 ratings

2 ratings from the community

Community Reviews (1)

TEJul 2018

Director Kushal Srivastava's debut feature film Vodka Diaries starts off well with Kay Kay Menon's character gearing up to solve a mystery surrounding at least five murders in the chilly city of Manali. That all of these murders are associated with a local pub by the name of the film is interesting, and makes the cop character look for leads. But somewhere after the first hour, Vodka Diaries slips and falls into a territory of fantasy. The narrative is chiefly from the perspective of the protagonist who starts to forget things to the point that his wife (Mandira Bedi) goes missing. It reminded me of Shane Carruth's 2013 confusing drama Upstream Color, and in both the films, I suffered a lot before getting the point. In Vodka Diaries, thankfully the characters speak for themselves and tell us what's happening at the end, but that in itself is a failure for the film. I don't want the characters to talk to me to simplify the story; that's the job of writer Vaibhav Bajpai. Add to that the usage of unnecessary songs and an overall dull atmosphere, Vodka Stories jumps deeper into the cliff of meaningless and pretentious drama. I don't know what Raima Sen was doing here, but she seems to be the only confident actor. Menon looks lethargic in his performance while Bedi seems to have done this film for free, putting near to zero effort in doing her part. Except the starting power of suspense and the locales of Manali, there is nothing much to relish in Vodka Diaries, and despite a clarified climax, I ended up feeling robbed. TN.

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