A pitcher plant is a strange shrub, its carnivorous. Who could imagine that an inocuous looking plant could eat up an insect. Thanks to its pitfall traps and the complex solution within, it engulfs an insect and bathes it in the mucilage and sucks the nutrients. Thereby, totally dissolving it and gaining nourishment out of it.
In the movie, Raunak Kaul is the insect which falls prey to the glamourous life of a successful DJ. Music is his calling as he joins Tango-Charlie nightclub and showcases his talent with remix of a sufi song Fakira which is his own creation. The success is followed by mucilage of drinks and babes and drugs; and he drowns in the pitfall as success goes to his head. And like a pithcer plant, the bad habits pull him in and refuses to release him.
As he goes down the path of drug abuse and trance music, his hearing power keeps reducing and it comes to a point that he turns deaf. The ENT specialist advises him to remain in an isolated environment and no deafening sound should reach the thin walls of his ears. Raunak has something which other insects don’t, that’s will power and self belief. Raunak’s will-power pushes him to lock himself in a room and insulate it with cushion. But the damage is already done.
Anyhow, he pulls himself together and his self belief sets him on a new journey. This phase of his life is about ablution, washing away the sins of his past. As he begins treading on this new path, to interact with the world again, he realises how badly he abused his sense organ. This is almost like the rebirth of the insect who is now aware of the viciousness of the pitcher plant.
The director, Neerav Ghosh, has a big vision of dealing with a different subject, although inspired. There are lots of references to Beethoven, the genius who composed music even after doing deaf. So, you can easily guess where the movie is going and what could be the conclusion. But the screenplay has been cleverly written; it keeps you engaged. It also gives you the feel of watching a documentary or a biography, as DJ Aqeel and Anurag Kashyap speak about Raunak as being the next best thing to have happened to the music scene. But the movie is let down by some mediocre dialogues; the writing could have been better. Neerav has previously written ‘Mithya’ which wasn’t a bad first-attempt.
For a movie based on sounds and music, it was important that the soundtrack be good. And Medieval Punditz deliver on this front. From the first scene where Raunak walks into the city, he is accompanied by varied background noises which is actually music to ears. There is sound all around us, and that’s emphasized very well. But the consistency was missing as the DJ act started breaking down soon after Fakira song.
‘What the eff is going on’ song is just a catchy phrase, not backed by a strong vocal or music arrangement. I was reminded of LSD, where the song ‘I can’t hold it any longer’ worked very well because of the attitude in the voice of Sneha Khanwilkar and the energy that she put in the song. The background score was ok, but the last song redeems the movie with ‘Chand Rahein Ek Manzil’ Ho song.
The movie has a nice cameo by Soha Ali Khan, who is a nice refreshing change. And Mohan Kapoor has done a good job as well. But its Rajeev all the way. The last song, mentioned above, could well be the story of the main lead Rajeev Khandelwal who plays Raunak. He has been very choosy about his movies. He started his career with Aamir and followed it up with Shaitan; and now this. He is trying different things, and I wish him all the luck as I wait for Peter Gaya Kaam Se.
Do watch the movie if you get a chance.
This post was also published on MadAboutMoviez
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