'Blackmail' is wickedly funny (Review)
If I didn't know about Irrfan's health issue I'd still be shaken by his hangdog unenthusiastic expression as he plods through his chosen life of a born loser in this savagely funny satire on adultery and blackmail.
In the strikingly shot (by cinematographer Jay Oza) opening we see Irrfan (Dev) struggling to stay afloat through his office hours, fighting shy of going home because the spark has gone from his marriage and wife who watches cheesy song sequences on television to while away her time.
Actually, it was never there, the spark I mean. In a wedding song that comes on at the end of the film taken from Dev's marriage to Reena (Kirti Kulhari) seven years earlier, we see how mismatched and ill-at-ease the couple was.
This is a marriage where adultery is waiting to happen. And it does sooner than we expect. The takeoff point for the comedy is so steeply damning and done in the film with such humorous indulgence that we left pretty dazed by the absurdity of it all.
From the adulterous episode "Blackmail" builds into an edifice of outrageous eventualities all bursting at the seams but never getting out of control, such is the director Abhinay Deo's control over his characters, all victims of a scam that boggles the mind, tickles the senses and sets our imagination on the wildest wackiest ride since Abhinay Deo's "Delhi Belly".
While the writing sparkles with a roguish splendor, and the director fills the frames with a fiendish glee. The narrative does spark off a distant pensiveness in indicating the breach of modern urban marriages. While Irrfan's marital bedroom is shattered by Arundoy's presence, Arunodoy's own marriage with the bully wife played with splendid spleen by Divya Dutta, is no laughing matter. She treats him like her dog. He doesn't mind as long as his monthly allowance keeps coming. Arunodoy sets aside his ego to make the husband a henpecked gold-digger.
I found the scenes of domestic disharmony as enacted by Arunodoy and Divya to be far more vivid and representational of an urban despair than the Irrfan-Kirti marriage which is shown to be far quieter in its incongruities.
Arunodoy and Dutta are a riot together. Watching these two underrated actors imbue life and zest into their parts is a major part of the pleasure derived in viewing this bitterly dark comedy. Other exceptionally persuasive performances come from Praduman Singh as Irrfan's shifty cheesy office colleague and Anuja Sathe as a timid office co-worker who transforms into an avaricious money monster in no time at all.
Every actor gets the point. "Blackmail" is a film that celebrates the sheer lunacy of the marital equation when pushed against betrayal. Its strength lies in generating laughter out of the most meditative mishaps of marriage. The sheer preposterousness of making adultery into an occasion of a serial blackmail is used to invoke a sense of unabashed boisterousness.
"Blackmail" is a virgin territory in the comedy genre. It is heady and hedonistic, cocky and compelling in the way the comedies of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee used to be. If only these veterans could see the sexiness that underlines all gender wars. "Blackmail" is a closeted Hrishikesh Mukherjee comedy with oodles of extra voluptuousness.
'Blackmail'; Starring: Irrfan, Kirti Kulhari, Arunodoy Singh, Divya Dutta, Praduman Singh, Anuja Sathe, Omi Vaidya; Directed by Abhinay Deo; Rating: ****(4 Stars)
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West Asia crisis: MEA establishes control room to assist Indians
New Delhi (PTI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has set up a control room to assist those affected by the escalating crisis in West Asia.
The MEA has said almost one crore Indian citizens live in West Asia and their safety and well-being is of "utmost priority" for New Delhi.
As the Iran-US conflict widened, the Indian embassy in Iran moved hundreds of Indian students from the Iranian capital of Tehran to safer locations.
"A Control Room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs in view of the current situation in West Asia and the Gulf region," the MEA said on Wednesday.
"The Control Room can be contacted from 9 am to 9 pm at: 1800118797 (Toll Free) +91 11 2301 2113, +91 11 2301 4104, +91 11 2301 7905," it added.
The US launched military strikes on Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Following the military offensive, Iran has carried out a wave of attacks mainly targeting Israel and American military bases in several Gulf countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The MEA on Tuesday noted that almost one crore Indian citizens live and work in the Gulf region, and their "safety and well-being is of utmost priority."
"We cannot be impervious to any development that negatively affects them," it said.
The MEA said New Delhi will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation and take relevant decisions in the national interest, adding it is in touch with the governments in the region as well as other key partners.
A Special Control Room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs in view of the current situation in West Asia and the Gulf region. Details are as below ⬇️
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 4, 2026
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