Blackmail Analysis

Blackmail (2018)

Directed by: Abhinav Deo
Story & Screenplay by: Parveez Sheikh
Starring: Irrfan Khan

Spoilers Alert. It's a black comedy - it has a Coen Brothers' vibe to it. I was immediately reminded of Blood Simple and Fargo. Very few characters, and they're trying to solve for their fuck ups which they did and the plot revolves around that - exploring their psyche in a quirky, esoteric way. It's about a man who finds out that his wife is cheating on him, and he decides to blackmail the boyfriend for money. It's an exciting premise, but the setback is that a lot of story beats are revealed in the trailer itself. I would have loved to discover all the story beats as the film progresses, for example the fact that he ends up paying for his own blackmail is such an interesting beat - which I remember learning from the trailer itself. But even after this, Prabha getting to know about it, she blackmailing him, she dying, him framing his friend Anand and Anand dying, the private detective - there is a lot happening throughout the film which keeps us hooked.

The casting choice was a little weird for me, because when they cast Kirti Kulhari as his wife - it isn't convincing that he is fantasizing at the wives of his colleagues, who don't look as sharp as his wife. For me, such casting has to work in line with the story beats. I read that he wanted to cast Aditi Rao Hydari initially - then it would've been worse. Although I understand that it's not only the looks, but the boredom of predictability, and the lack of excitement that could lead to the physical aspect dwindling over time. The character consistency, and the clever usage of dialogue with subtext - where the characters don't exactly say what they mean, and interesting story beats make for a quirky film. Although it's not emotionally satisfying, which the film never even promises to be.