'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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LoP Ashoka targets CM govt over corruption, says being 'shameless' in public life not forgivable
Bengaluru (PTI): Targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress government in Karnataka on corruption, BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday said, being foolish was forgivable, but being "shameless" in public life was not.
The Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly claimed that in just 30 months of its tenure, the Congress administration has broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies.
He was responding to Siddaramaiah's post on 'X' on Thursday hitting back at the BJP, stating that Upa Lokayukta Justice Veerappa's claims of "63 per cent corruption" were based on his report in November 2019, when BJP's B S Yediyurappa was the CM.
"But Ashoka, without understanding the Upa Lokayukta's statement properly, has ended up tying the BJP's own bells of sins onto our heads and has effectively shot himself in the foot," the CM had said, as he accused Ashoka of foolishness for trying to twist Veerappa's statement to target the current government.
Responding, Ashoka said, "it is one thing to be called foolish in politics, that can be forgiven."
"But in public life, especially in the Chief Minister's chair, one must never become shameless," Ashoka posted on 'X' on Friday addressing Siddaramaiah.
Noting that the CM himself had admitted on the floor of the Assembly that a Rs 87 crore scam took place in the Valmiki Development Corporation, he said that when a CM acknowledges such a massive irregularity inside the floor of the House, the natural expectation is immediate action and accountability.
"But instead of taking responsibility, you continue in office as if nothing has happened. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness," he asked.
Pointing out that the CM's Economic Advisor and senior Congress MLA Basavaraja Rayareddy had publicly stated that under Congress rule, Karnataka has become No.1 in corruption, Ashoka said, "Yet, you still cling to the Chief Minister's chair without a moment of introspection. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness."
Senior Congress MLA C R Patil had exposed the "money for House" racket in the Housing Department and even warned that the government would collapse if the details he has were made public, Ashoka said.
"Despite such serious allegations from within your own party (Congress), you neither initiated an inquiry nor acted against the concerned minister. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness," Ashoka asked the CM.
Highlighting the "40 percent commission" allegation Congress made against the previous BJP government, the opposition leader said, the commission that the Siddaramaiah government appointed concluded that the accusation was baseless.
"After your own panel demolished your own claim, what moral right do you have to continue repeating that allegation. What should the people of Karnataka call this, if not sheer shamelessness," he asked.
For the last two and a half years, Karnataka has been 'drowning' in corruption, scandals, irregularities and allegations across departments. Ashoka said, "If I begin listing every case that emerged under your government, even 24 hours would not be enough."
"And the most tragic aspect of your administration is this: the unbearable pressure, corruption demands and administrative harassment under your government pushed several officers and contractors into extreme distress - including the suicide of Chandrasekharan which exposed the Valmiki Development Corporation scam - a sign of how deeply broken the system has become under your watch," he said.
Instead of fixing this hopeless environment, the government has tried to bury every complaint and silence every voice, he charged.
"Being foolish is forgivable, but being shameless in public life is definitely not."
"When your own ministers admit scams, when your own advisors certify Karnataka as No.1 in corruption, and when your own MLAs expose rackets inside your departments - clinging to power without accountability is not leadership. It is shamelessness in its purest form." PTI KSU
Earlier on Thursday Ashoka had demanded that the corruption case and allegations in the state against the Congress government be handed over to a CBI investigation, citing a reported statement by Upalokaykta Justice Veerappa alleging "63 per cent corruption", following which Siddaramaiah hit back at the BJP leader.
