DERANGERS SHOULD be a more apt title for this movie featuring two STRANGERS married to two deranged people.

 

They say marriages are made in heaven.

 

If marriages were really made in heaven, why is it that the proverbial “And they stayed happy ever after” couples account for a mere 17.3 per cent?

 

Guess, it is this marital discord that led debutant (I guess!) director Anand L. Rai to make Strangers.

 

The film is set in London. Jimmy Sheirgill is an out of work writer, he is married to Nandana Sen; the other couple is, KK Menon married to Sonali Kulkarni. Following the death of Amit, their six-year-old son, Sonali has turned into a vegetable.

 

Jimmy and KK meet on a train to South Ampton. Unknown to each other (hence the title ‘Strangers’), they both tell each other their respective stories. Finally KK suggests that since both are suffering in defunct marriages, why don’t they help each other out? Each should murder the other’s wife.

 

The film follows a non-linear format to unfold, which definitely doesn’t augur well with the sensibilities of a regular cinema audience. In fact, a majority of the audience (who were still with the movie) were confused. Technically, though, this format injected life to an otherwise done to death plot.

 

Apart from the plot the characters too worked against the sketch given to them. It is hard to digest how KK could suggest murdering their respective spouses, when the other character, Jimmy, was more flamboyant and had the right reason.

 

In fact, this very moment gives away the entire plot to the discerning viewer that KK is using Jimmy to murder Sonali and in fact he is having an affair with Nandana.

 

Also, turning the tables round, where Jimmy murders Nandana, instead of Sonali; rather than opting for a convenient cut, where Jimmy is revealed to be watching the play (and watching KK and Nandana together), the director could have utilized Jimmy’s characters’ writer instincts and done a back-integration to the plot, it would have been better and interesting than Jimmy knowing KK’s entire plan in advance.

 

The audience might find a question baffling: if KK and Nandana really wanted to marry each other, why didn’t they divorce their respective spouses?

 

The explanations that the protagonists give are flimsy and go listless.

 

The recent controversy, Sonali Kulkarni doing a semi-nude scene, will be unable to get in the requisite audiences; because there is really nothing of the sort in the film; audiences have scene bolder and better executed semi-nude scenes (Kangna Ranaut in Gangster and Woh Lamhe) and bolder and better executed love-making scenes (Mallika Sherawat in Murder)

 

Production values are rich and the script didn’t warrant it. Editing pattern used is good and in fact, breathes in life in the film.

 

KK as usual is good and Nandana does a decent job. Jimmy fails to leave an impact and Sonali doesn’t have much to do. The saying holds good here, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.

 

Rating: 2.5 on 10