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Talking Food on Movies

C

inematographer-

screenwriter Shanker

Raman’s directorial

debut, Gurgaon, is

located in an urban

expanse that’s going to seed. The

compelling neo-noir slow burner,

a searching probe into the horrid

upshots of patriarchy and misogyny,

unfolds in a lawless landscape

where humanity is on life support.

The plot swivels around a power

struggle in a real-estate clan headed

by a crusty tycoon struggling to live

down his violent past. The tussle pits

the ageing man’s adopted daughter and

chosen successor against a headstrong,

brooding male scion driven by a

sense of entitlement, hate and rage.

Gurgaon is splendidly crafted. It

conveys the urgency and sinewy

edginess of its theme without resorting

to shock cinema tactics. While it does

follow the basic principles of the

thriller genre, it never cuts loose and

goes wild. The writing is precise, the

lensing perfect, the sound design highly

evocative, and the editing in sync with

the tale’s bristly nature. The acting,

modulated and unfussy, is top notch too.

“Inspired by true events”, the film

delves into a murky world infested

with land sharks, sattaoperators, petty

criminals and dangerous drifters. A

young, ambitious woman with a mind of

her own parachutes into this cesspool.

Sibling envy rears its head. A kidnap

goes horribly wrong. Skeletons tumble

out of the family’s creaking closet.

This certainly isn’t a place for talented

women like Preet Singh (Ragini

Khanna), who returns from the US

with a degree in architecture and is

all set to take over the reins of the

thriving construction empire that

her father, one-time impoverished

farmer Kehri Singh (Pankaj

Tripathi), built on dodgy foundations.

A brief introduction presages the

unfolding of an unrelentingly grim

scenario in which unspeakably horrid

crimes are committed and plenty of

blood is spilled. A jungle has its laws -

laws laid down by nature, the lead-in tells

us. But in this particular ‘gaon’, rules

are broken at will. Everybody fancies

himself as a hunter here, but there is

little left for them to hunt. The resultant

turf wars are violent and disastrous.

One defining scene in Gurgaon plays out

entirely in the form of a reflection in a

mirror. We see a worried Preet slouched

in the lower left corner of the frame.

Sophie (Anna Ador), her American

friend, physically monopolises the visual

composition. The latter can’t fathom

why Preet has agreed to marry a guy of

her father’s choice. “It’s complicated...

Every inch of land that my father

owns is in my name. I cannot say no to

him,” confesses the reluctant inheritor.

What she says next sums up exactly

what she’s got into: “I’m terrified, I

don’t want to be sucked into my family

business... I shouldn’t have come back.”

But now that she is back, she must learn

how not to sink. That’s what the battle

is about. Preet’s brother, Nikki (Akshay

Released on: August 2017

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Shanker Raman

Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Akshay Oberoi, Ragini

Khanna, Shalini Vatsa, Aamir Bashir