'Ugly' is redeemed by its last moments - indeed, by the closing scene and the last words spoken in the film; ironically, by one of the most peripheral characters. Those words, however, convey the entire philosophy of the movie, and underscore what none of the other, principal dramatis personae ever chooses to understand, viz., that life is much much more than personal prejudices and misplaced rivalries.
'Ugly' is touted as a thriller. That, it is not. I don't think it was ever intended to be a thriller, per se, either, as was, for example, Sriram Raghavan's criminally underrated 'Johnny Gaddar'. The thrill factor in 'Ugly', assuming it exists, is not even remotely close.
Which brings me to another unique feature of 'Ugly' - which probably explains the name. The film is entirely free of even a single likable character. From Tejaswini Kolhapure's impressively acted Shalini, as the mother of a 10-year old girl who goes missing, and whose disappearance forms the backdrop of the entire story, to her dour and taciturn husband Shoumik Bose (again impressively, albeit a tad one-dimensionally, portrayed by Ronit Roy), to her ex-husband and father of the missing girl, Rahul (Rahul Bhat), to his wily friend Chaitanya (Vineet Kumar Singh), to the mercurial police inspector Jadhav (superbly portrayed by Girish Kulkarni, a highly regarded performer in Marathi cinema), they are all inherently repulsive characters, one way or the other. We cannot empathise with a single one of them; indeed, Anurag deliberately provokes the audience's disgust in seeing these people, supposedly literate and seeking to search for an innocent 10-year old (an utterly adorable Anishika Shrivastava) who has mysteriously disappeared from her car, concerned more with their own squabbles and subterfuges than with tracing the girl as expeditiously as possible. Which is why, as I said, the entire philosophy of the film has been condensed, by Anurag, into the last 5 words spoken in it, which remain etched in the memory much after the end credits have rolled by, and have to regarded as the movie's apotheosis.
'Ugly' is, therefore, uncompromising - if not really uncomfortable - viewing. It would, in any rate, deserve to rate fairly high, in Anurag Kashyap's enviable oeuvre.
Redeemed, I repeat, by its last 5 minutes.
'Ugly' is touted as a thriller. That, it is not. I don't think it was ever intended to be a thriller, per se, either, as was, for example, Sriram Raghavan's criminally underrated 'Johnny Gaddar'. The thrill factor in 'Ugly', assuming it exists, is not even remotely close.
Which brings me to another unique feature of 'Ugly' - which probably explains the name. The film is entirely free of even a single likable character. From Tejaswini Kolhapure's impressively acted Shalini, as the mother of a 10-year old girl who goes missing, and whose disappearance forms the backdrop of the entire story, to her dour and taciturn husband Shoumik Bose (again impressively, albeit a tad one-dimensionally, portrayed by Ronit Roy), to her ex-husband and father of the missing girl, Rahul (Rahul Bhat), to his wily friend Chaitanya (Vineet Kumar Singh), to the mercurial police inspector Jadhav (superbly portrayed by Girish Kulkarni, a highly regarded performer in Marathi cinema), they are all inherently repulsive characters, one way or the other. We cannot empathise with a single one of them; indeed, Anurag deliberately provokes the audience's disgust in seeing these people, supposedly literate and seeking to search for an innocent 10-year old (an utterly adorable Anishika Shrivastava) who has mysteriously disappeared from her car, concerned more with their own squabbles and subterfuges than with tracing the girl as expeditiously as possible. Which is why, as I said, the entire philosophy of the film has been condensed, by Anurag, into the last 5 words spoken in it, which remain etched in the memory much after the end credits have rolled by, and have to regarded as the movie's apotheosis.
'Ugly' is, therefore, uncompromising - if not really uncomfortable - viewing. It would, in any rate, deserve to rate fairly high, in Anurag Kashyap's enviable oeuvre.
Redeemed, I repeat, by its last 5 minutes.