Kushan Nandy who's co-produced-, co-written and directed his debut film 88, Antop Hill gives it a good start but falters after the first half an hour and loses the viewer completely by the time the killer of the murder mystery is found out. Blame it on creaky doors, whirring fans, screeching brakes, blaring horns, rustling horns, thumping footsteps, eerie screams (plenty of them, the Ramsay variety)
and just too much noise (which we know as background score), which kills Nandy's labour of love.
The film begins with some zanily done introductory titles and a gruesome murder taking place at where else but 88, Antop Hill. Pratyush Shellar (Atul Kulkarni) is a bank officer who dotes on his wife Antara (Suchitra Pillai in a thankless role) and daughter Sanjh. He returns home late on his wedding anniversary. Wifey is naturally fuming, more so because hubby dear was somewhere else nursing his college sweetheart's broken heart. A tu tu main main later Antara walks out of his house and life, daughter in tow. Next day, to ease off his frustration, Pratyush's office colleague gives him a visiting card of a call girl called Teesta (Shweta Menon) but our man is in no mood for a night out. That night he gets a call from the same colleague saying he is in danger and needs help. The call is made from 88, Antop Hill. Pratyush rushes to the place only to find a sexy Teesta who tries to entice him, in vain. However, he agrees to accompany
her to a pub (pray why?) and drops her back home only to find his car keys missing. While he waits for Teesta to give him his keys, what he instead lays his hands on is her body slain with a deadly weapon. Pratyush is in a soup. The story is interesting up to this point but what follows later lets the viewer go off the hook. The trap in which Pratyush finds himself in and his helplessness somehow never reaches across to the viewer for most part of the film. Add to that the number of suspects and their respective sub-plots, leading to utter confusion.
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The suspects are Prashant, a drug addict and Teesta's ex-boyfriend, Sonali (Jasmine), Teesta's one-time roommate and Prashant's sister, KK Menon, a millionaire and Sonali's fiance and a crackpot called Mansukhani, an eccentric, aged blackmailer. Piecing the jigsaw together is the suave cop, Arvind Khanvilkar (Rahul Dev). Besides the loud noise, which disrupts the viewing experience, there are some other irritants too - the motive behind the killings is absolutely laughable, the proceedings are pretty morbid, the performances (barring the dependable Atul Kulkarni and Rahul Dev) are strictly below average.
Obviously, you then have on hand an average film, which could have built up on the initial tempo. Alas, don't dare to go anywhere near this Antop Hill.
Viewer's Feedback
I think the movie was a good attempt, Nandy is tried to be different from the usual shit that we get from the love stories these days and the past couple of years like Prem Diwani...., or Mere yaar ki...., and other crappy movies. This is a movie of different class altogether and is ideal for a person who is sick of the same old bollywood movies, which have similar plots.
- Yogesh Fatehchandani
I don''t think you have done justice by coming with this one-sided review of yours.88 Antop Hill, isn''t a bad movie at all, people who likes to get scared, will love the film, it''s quite enjoyable on a rainy afternoon.I think Kushan Nandy should not lose his confidence at the lukewarm response that his debut film "88 Antop Hill" has received... he has the touch, it's evident in the film, and I believe if he works on a another plot, tying the loose ends securely, this time, I am damn sure we''ll be getting another creepy movie soon. - Nilanjan Nandy by email
