The blind man’s bluff
Everybody knows how a mystery should work. In Andhadhun, an old lady prods a policeman at a funeral, urging him to question the widow. “Casual, casual,” she whispers, as if she has done this before. As if she has watched enough films to warn her against the contrary.
Audiences have watched too many mystery movies, and like spoilsport children around a birthday party magician, they delight at spotting sleight of hand and predicting twists. This phenomenal new thriller pulls off its tricks in plain sight.
The film is about a piano player. Whether he is genuinely blind is not the question — or, at least, not the most important. This film blindfolds some while others slip on masks willingly. Who is blinder: the one who can’t see or the one who chooses not to?
The piano washes over noiseless action but also dictates its momentum, like in classic Tom & Jerry cartoons with elaborate farce set to orchestral music. Director Sriam Raghavan’s absurdly poetic thriller makes us breathless with both anticipation and laughter. Andhadhun is so compelling, it may universally be considered irresistible. We must remember Alfred Hitchcock made funny films.
It is dashed hard not to give the game away, but it may be safe to say the characters are phenomenal. A fictitious ’70s actor is played, in a masterstroke, by ’70s actor Anil Dhawan, glimpsed in vintage songs wearing a checkerboard blazer with a florid scarf. He now checks Youtube comments and marvels at having admirers as far away as Denmark.
“Denmark? Isn’t that where Hamlet is set?” asks the magnificent Tabu, playing his wife. The actress embraces the Black Widow motif present in her most acclaimed roles (someone calls her ‘Lady Macbeth’) and creates a devastating noir part. Has there ever been a femme quite as fatale? Forced out of his usual affable routine, Ayushmann Khurrana is smashing. He is a natural at the piano, and his body language in this film is pitch-perfect — especially when it shouldn’t be pitchperfect. Akash is no typically hardboiled noir hero; Khurrana plays him scrambled.
Like his characters, Raghavan learns from the movies. The production title for Andhadhun was Shoot The Piano Player, like Francois Truffaut’s buoyant and impulsive 1960 film. Its inciting incident came from a short film, The Piano Tuner. While Raghavan pays tributes constantly — the film is dedicated to Chhayageet and Chitrahaar, and salutes Louis Malle and La La Land — this is entirely his own. You did it, Sriram, like nobody else. You shot the piano player.