Vodka Diaries Movie Review Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Two and a half stars)

Star Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Raima Sen, Mandira Bedi, Rishi Bhutani, Sharib Hashmi, Herry Tangri

Director: Kushal Shrivastav

What’s Good: The cast of Vodka Diaries have put their heart and soul in the essaying their character to perfection. A special mention about the extraordinary cinematography of the film. From beautifully capturing the essence of a location to the flare with which the transition of one scene to another is has been done, seems just like a knife through butter. Even the dialogues have the right amount of crispness and the spices that are needed for the making of a good thriller.

What’s Bad: The mediocrity of the storyline is the greatest flaw of the film, which stops it from becoming a milestone thriller movie. Too much of anything is bad, same applies to Vodka Diaries. Lots of confusion and anticipations at some point starts to bug you and make you impatient to know the hidden mystery in the film.

Loo Break: The most difficult question to answer. If you want to discover and unearth each piece of this puzzle i.e. the movie you mustn’t leave your seats until the interval knocks your door. Rush back to your place ones the movie resumes, because you do not want yourself to fall prey to the trap of confusion that the movie sets in its second half.

Watch or Not?: Watch it for the first half especially which will leave you gasping for breath.

User Rating:

ACP Ashwini Dixit (Kay Kay Menon) who is happily married to his wife Shikha (Mandira Bedi) is roped in for the investigation of a murder of a woman named Meghna. Outside her house, he finds the body of Meghna’s boyfriend Vivek hanging from a tree. Meanwhile, he also gets a call from a hotel named Vodka Diaries, where a body has been found. On reaching there he finds the dead body of Rony Duggal who was staying in the hotel along with his partner. Coming out of Vodka Diaries he finds a crowd gathered outside. On closer look he again finds a body covered in snow and is identified as Nick Bhatia. The connection between all these murders is the link that all of them who were found dead were present at the anniversary party of Vodka Diaries. While on the case he gets a call from an unknown woman who challenges him to solve the case.

ACP Dixit calls his wife to check on her. But to his utter surprise, the same women picks up his wife’s phone, which shocks him to the core. He goes home where he finds his wife missing as well. Watch to know who this mysterious caller is and what is the reason behind all these 4 murders and how is it related to his missing wife.

Vodka Diaries Movie Review: Script Analysis

For a film to be successful all the factors should be in place. But in case of Vodka Diaries the essential ingredient, a strong and gripping storyline was amiss. Written by Vaibhav Bajpai, the script fails to hit the bull’s eye. It promises you something so extraordinary but when the time comes to deliver, it completely disappoints you and leaves you unsatisfied with it’s below averageness. The build-up of suspense created by good writing worked in favour of the film but a simple but effective punch in the storyline could have done miracles.

Vodka Diaries Movie Review: Star Performance

Hands down like always Kay Kay Menon steals the show in Vodka Diaries as well. When he is on screen it is really difficult for any other actor to draw the viewers’ attention to them. Kay Kay gives you the right dose of everything from intense acting to romance time to time, which does not let the monotony, set it. This man gets into the character so well that at some point of time you get one with him. He is one of the reasons why you should watch this film.

Talking about Mandira Bedi who seemed a real mismatch while sharing the screen with Kay Kay Menon. There was no chemistry between them, which made it very bland for the viewers to watch. Her low on energy dialogue delivery and mediocre performance made her a misfit in a cast who have put their best foot out in the movie.

Raima Sen has done true justice to her character. Though she did not get too much screen space, but for whatever amount of time she was on screen, she made a statement with her stellar performance and proved herself as a talented actress.

Someone who deserves a special mention in this section is Sharib Hashmi. He has proved himself to be a gem for the film Vodka Diaries. He will go a long way! Where his comic timing is bang on, he also does not shy away in delivering his best, when it comes to a scene which requires serious intense acting.

Vodka Diaries Movie Review: Direction, Music

The strongest element in the film Vodka Diaries is its direction which has been done with true expertise and craftsmanship by director Kushal Srivastava. For a debutant, he has done some really good work with the film. Very skilfully directed the transitional scenes in the movie from past to present shows Kushal’s skill as a director. His direction makes every scene of the movie seem like a piece of a puzzle. The director does not let you focus for too long on a particular puzzle piece and shifts your attention to another piece instantly which helps in keeping the mystery alive. The director even plays with your mind at times and gives you so breath-taking directorial moments in the film. It’s like he has spread a web through his film which keeps on pulling you deeper and deeper into it, the more and more you try to understand it.

Sanjoy Chowdhury’s background score strikes the right notes in the story. Not too overpowering and not too mild, but incorrect dosage the background score perfectly blends and give the desired effect in the film Vodka Diaries. At times the story takes a backseat and you start swaying your head to the powerful beats of the music.

This kind of a film does not have the requirement of an array of chartbuster numbers, but just to break the monotony and to make the mood of the film light for some time, songs are added in thrillers. Songs took a back seat in this film too without making a hue and cry, just working as a support system to the storyline. The 3 songs in the film helped in bring out the emotion of a scene or character in a better way.

Vodka Diaries Movie Review: The Last Word

As a one-time watch Vodka Diaries could be called as a good entertaining movie with some really well-directed scenes and power packed dialogues. But do not let your expectations soar too high because the fall after that might hurt you real bad and you might return home with a baggage of disappointment and unsatisfaction with you.

Two and a half stars.

Vodka Diaries Movie Trailer

Vodka Diaries Movie releases on 19th January, 2018.

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