A great film premise is let down by poor screenplay

Starring: Saiyami Kher, Roshan Mathew, Amruta Subhash Director: Anurag Kashyap

HE MAY be regarded as a leading filmmaker, but most projects masterminded by Anurag Kashyap have one thing in common and that is his inability to bring an interesting idea fully to life.

He has had many great ideas and pretty much all of them haven’t reached their undeniable potential. His latest offering Choked is a film that recently premiered on Netflix and is once again built around an intriguing premise.

The 2016 set story revolves around a Mumbai based bank teller, who is the sole earner in the family and is married to a heavily in debt, jobless man. One day she accidentally finds bundles of money in a drain tightly wrapped in plastic, which seem like a miraculous answer to all her prayers. Then she starts facing problems, including the Indian government announcing demonetisation, which would make 500 and 1,000 rupees worthless within weeks.

The central idea of a woman in the middle of a crumbling marriage, who finds a life altering amount of money, about to be made worthless is a great one, but as this film progresses it falls apart.

Just like other projects directed by Anurag Kashyap, the great central performances, atmospheric setting and sharp camerawork can’t hide his inability to turn a unique idea into a winning project. That is why Choked starts off strongly and has a great set up, but then slowly starts to fall apart and eventually limps towards an unsatisfactory ending.

Saiyami Kher does deliver a great performance and keeps the viewer engaged, but it just isn’t enough. A stronger screenplay and perhaps a better director may have got more out of this material. Although it is not as bad as their other acquisitions like the truly terrible recent release Mrs Serial Killer, Choked can be chalked up as another failure for streaming site Netflix.