Taish review: Geist of fury

 

What: A brutal but soulful take on rage

Taish Synopsis

Rohan Karla (Jim Sarbh) and Sunny Lalwani (Pulkit Samrat) are best friends from their childhood days. Sunny goes to attend Rohan's younger brother Krish's (Ankur Rathee) week long wedding in a scenic country estate in UK. The boys look at this as an opportunity to catch up and let loose - unabashed and fun revelry dotting the weeklong affair. Somewhere else in the dark grimy corners of South Hall London, a violent criminal family of moneylenders is headed by Kuljinder (Abhimanyu Singh) with his two brothers Pali (Harshvardhan Rane) and Jassi (Armaan Khera). Pali has been planning to quit the family business and start life afresh with Kuljnder's wife Jahaan (Sanjeeda Sheikh) with whom he has been having an affair. But fate has other plans for him. Both these world collides when Kuljinder comes to attend the wedding in the country side. A past secret connected to Rohan and Kuljinder sparks an incident of violence which then kick starts a chain of violence changing all their lives drastically.

Taish Review

Released as a movie and web series Taish (fit of rage, anger) is Bejoy Nambiar’s brutal but soulful take on rage, anger. The message is served up in a stylishly intense action drama between two families and two lovers.

Having its share of conventional routes and Bejoy’s own language of cinema, Taish results in a study of rage between different individuals in same and different situations, a cut above the quintessential Indian revenge sags, Taish makes it ground as an entertainer that digs into rage and the extent an individual can go for his/her family with a different plough.

This jolting, superbly acted film will draw both the serious-minded thinking viewers and the entertainment hungry souls as well.

Startling brutal kickoff has Sunny Lalwani (Pulkit Samrat) bashing Kuljinder (Abhimanyu Singh) in a pub. Following the past present format, the movie then traces a few days back to Pali pointing a gun at Kuljinder followed by the pleasant wedding atmosphere of the Kalra’s.

Just as the tone and atmosphere the mood changes and the audience is hooked.

The greatest quality of writer director Bejoy Nambiar’s story telling and screenplay by Kartik R. Iyer and Anjali Nair is that they give the flawed characters from both the ends a sense of purpose.

Performance

The tattooed Harshvardhan Rane is fearsomely intense and nuanced as Pali. The range he continues to exhibit is terrifically subdued.

Jim Sarbh as the controlled, suave Rohan Kalra gets diverse shades and stands out.

Pulkit Samrat is fabulous.

Abhimanyu Singh is outstanding.

Kriti Kharbanda is fantastic.

Sanjeeda Shaikh is perfect.

Saurabh Sachdeva creates an impact.

Saloni Batra is strong.

Zoa Morani impresses. Ankur Rathee is fine. Kunika is competent.

Technicalities

Superb production values. Cinematography by Harshvir Oberai is vivid and dark as per the tone. Editing by Priyank Prem Kumar is crisp. Nandini Shrikent   Production Design and Mandar Nagaonkar’s costume design is adequate.

Flaws

The storytelling lapses into the pretentious and it’s overheated for a bit. Some dots are not properly connected.

Final words

Taish is a brutal but soulful study of anger, its power, integrity and truthfulness are sobering and highly impressive.