Lost (Zee5)
Directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
From the director of the game-changing Pink comes a political thriller that is as much a clutter-breaker as Pink, though the concerns are not just about women here. The rot runs much deeper and , well, the female hero is not too safe here.
Being a crime reporter in Kolkata (or anywhere) is not a safe profession for anyone, man or woman. Nidhi Sahani has thrown all caution to the wimps. The goons who tail her, and her beloved grandpa (played by everyone’s favourite patriarch Pankaj Kapoor) look as dangerous as the watchmen of a housing colony.
But here is the thing: sinisterness is not a signature tune, not in this film. Danger lurks in the most ostensibly innocuous places in Lost. Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury travels through Kolkata’s inner bowel (no images of Howrah Bridge, thank God). The master lensman Avik Mukhopadhyay (who has shot extensively with Pink producer Shoot Sircar, and for Aniruddha’s Pink) brings Kolkata to life as pivotal character in this crime drama which starts off as love story between a street theatre artiste Ishaan and his over-ambitious girlfriend Ankita (Tushar Pandey and Pia Bajpiee, both well played, especially Pia) and then grows into a frightening political drama that Costa-Gavras would approve of.
Yami Gautam Dhar gets to do all the heavy lifting in this saga of serious offences against the moral edifice which our forefathers were so proud of. She gets into the skin of the character as the plot evolves. Nidhi’s best moment of empathy is with Ishaan’s sister (Honey Jain) as Nidhi urges the other woman to bite into a pastry. Small simple pleasures in a world cluttered with compromise and corruption.
Even in the cloudiest murkiest moments of drama, the writing (by Shyamal Sengupta and Ritesh Shah) remains lucid and clearheaded. More than a thriller, Lost is a parable on erosion of values in a world where you are judged by the cost of your clothes and accessories.
