The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is back in action with Via Darjeeling, directed by Arindam Nandy. The film has an enviable cast in the likes of Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni, Vinay Pathak and Rajat Kapoor and one goes with high expectations .But the movie, which belongs to the thriller genre, looses its grasp from the second half onwards, though the director does manage to get back some of the thrills with the manner in which he ends the movie. The open ending lifts the film to an entirely different level.
The film is loosely based on the mysterious disappearance of a man (Kay Kay Menon) during his honeymoon in Darjeeling. The local cops come in and investigate the mystery but fail to solve the case. Since the girl (Sonali Kulkarni), is the daughter of a well known industrialist, the matter gets buried and the case remains unsolved. Cut to the inspector in charge of the investigating, (Vinay Pathak), who happens to relate the case during a rainy evening to some friends, played by Rajat Kapoor, Simone Singh, Prashant Narayan and Sandhya Mridul, all of who are, what we would label, intellectuals. While Rajat's character is that of a journalist, Prashant plays a film director and Sandhya plays a television actress. Each of the characters is excellently sketched out by the director through the interaction between them. The friendly banter between the friends brings out the dynamics of the relation between them, besides throwing light on their individual characters. On that rainy evening, two more guests are awaited, their arrival would complete the party. While waiting for them, the friends decide to play a game. Each one of them gives their version of what they think must have happened between the honeymoon couple in Darjeeling leading to the husband's disappearance. Each of the four stories has different endings and gives an entirely different interpretation of what might have happened that day.
The premise is very interesting and for the most part, the director handles his film very intelligently and manages to keep the interest going. But it is only when we reach the second half, when the interaction between the friends is taking place, that the interest starts flagging. But the director makes up for it with his brilliant ending. It is just that in the build up to finale, there is a certain lack of cohesiveness.
What makes the film truly absorbing is the brilliant performances by Kay Kay, Vinay and Sonali, the three main protagonists. Kay Kay towers over all with his naturally nuanced performance. He is a treat to watch. Sonali fits the role of the wife very well. Vinay is another very natural actor and he excels specially in the scene where he is cross questioning Sonali's character. Among the friends, Rajat and Simone too turn in very natural performances. Despite their minor roles, Prashant and Sandhya and Pravin Dabbas too manage to make their presence felt. In fact, all the minor characters do a creditable job in the movie. The credit for that goes to the script where all the characters have been very well written in.
Another outstanding feature of the film is its music which has been composed by Prabuddha Banerjee. Director Nandy can congratulate himself on a job well done. Except for certain bits in the middle, where all the characters seem to be talking too much pointlessly, the film moves at a fairly decent pace. The only problem is that one feels that Nandy's circle of friends seem to often look and sound very contrived and not very realistic, even though a lot of effort goes in trying to look and sound natural. But that is the actor's skill and has nothing to do with Nandy's script or direction. In all, a very decent effort.
Via Darjeeling succeeds to a extend in imparting thrills and leaving one with.