Cuttputlli Movie Review: Akshay Kumar's Casting is a Major Weak Point in This Otherwise Okay Remake of Ratsasan (LatestLY Exclusive)

Cuttputlli Movie Review: The 2018 Tamil film Ratsasan, directed by Ram Kumar, was a riveting thriller that mostly worked save for its third act (which I will talk about later on). Ratsasan was smart, gripping and quite intense when it wants to be, and found itself in the best Tamil film lists of most critics that year. Of course it would catch the attention of Bollywood, and of course that remake would star Akshay Kumar in it. So we have Cuttputlli, directed by Bell Bottom fame Ranjit M Tewari, and has Akshay step into the shoes of Vishnu Vishal and makes a classic case of Bollywood still figuring out how to cast age-appropriate actors. Cuttputlli OTT Premiere: Ahead of the Film’s Release, Akshay Kumar Drops Promo Video Featuring Him as a Small-Town Cop Trying to Trace the Serial Killer.

So a 54-year-old Akshay Kumar plays a 36-year old Arjan Sethi in Cuttputlli. His didi is played by Hrishita Bhatt who is 13 years younger than him. And he is paired with Rakul Preet, who is 23 years younger to him. Yes, I know... I know, she had romanced a similarly aged Ajay Devgn in De De Pyaar De, and while that movie had its problems, it at least acknowledges their age-gap and the movie revolves around that bit. No such luck here.

So does this age-disparity make any sort of difference to the adaptation? On one hand, Cuttputlli is a nearly faithful adaptation of Ratsasan, except it moves the setting to Kasauli (though actually it is UK, it seems), adds a peppy romantic dance song (that comes merely hours after the hero is traumatised after his first kill) and some light comedy (though, thankfully, very much contained in the first half an hour). There is a problem with the third act which, like I promised before, I will discuss ahead.

But on the other hand, Cuttputlli doesn't improve anything upon the original, except brings its own set of problems here.

Like Akshay, for example.

Akshay is a fabulous actor in his own right, and he brings enough brevity into any role. There are moments in Cuttputlli too where the actor shines well. Like the scene where he confronts a pervy teacher (a suitable squeamish Sujith Shankar). Akshay's contained fury in the scene is noteworthy, and the energy he brings to the role otherwise is also not undeniable. He still is more energetic that many of his juniors, and looks very trim. And yet, the age factor does awkwardly creep up especially when you are reminded that a younger Vishnu Vishal was so apt in the original. If only the writers of Cuttputlli had bothered to factor in its lead actor's age and rewrite the character appropriately, this would have been a different ball-game. Or just cast a younger actor. Alas!

So anyway if you have not seen Ratsasan - here's the plot gist for you. Arjan is a wannabe scriptwriter, who has written a script around serial killers, for which he has done months of research, only for the producers to wanting more of a light-hearted fare.

Arjan's unemployed status at his age leaves his didi and police-wale jeeja (Chandrachur Singh, who is one year younger than Akshay IRL. Sorry, last mention of 'age' here) worried, and they push him to enter himself in the Sub Inspector test. So despite the age-limit for that post being 26 years (okay, last time... I promise, but I did a search), Arjan gets the job because he is fit and fine, and had a dad who died in service. Nepotism works in strange ways.

Dude joins the Kasauli station at a time when mutilated corpses of young, kidnapped high school girls begin popping up. The killer also leaves a box containing a severed, scarred doll head at the spot of kidnapping as a calling card. Arjan's colleagues, including his SHO (Sargun Mehta, quite good), are oblivious to the idea that a serial killer is at work here, though Arjan's 'research' makes him realise the folly and point out the fact.

How Arjan figures out who the killer is and whether he manages to stop the killer before anymore killings is what the rest of the movie is about. Also yes, there is a romantic track between Arjan and his niece's teacher Divya (Rakul Preet), who is hot enough to effortlessly pull off a sexy saree look in the cool climate of Kasauli. BTW, when his niece fake-introduces Arjan as her father to the teacher, she exclaims that he (expect eye-rolling ahead) is too young to be her father! Okay, I swear, this is the last age-dig of this review.

Watch the Trailer:

Like with Hit and Forensic, two remakes of better South investigative thrillers that came and sank, Cuttputlli works best when the movie is focussed on the investigation portions. Arjan's efforts to get deduce the killer's identity and the modus operandus are as nearly gripping as they are in the original to much extent, and those who haven't watched Ratsasan might get hooked to these scenes. But for a police procedural film, the scenes don't always work in tandem with the logic. For example, there is a scene where Arjan discovers one corpse in a car, but to hide the disturbing discovering from a character, he takes the corpse to the hospital. As a cop, shouldn't he know that it is tampering with the crime scene, no matter the circumstances?

Then there is the matter of character inconsistency. Arjan is at first disgusted with the third degree measures his colleagues used to make culprits confess crimes, and once he even even breaks the beating stick, so as not to hit a criminal. But before we could cheer for him for his principle, a couple of scenes later, we find him hitting a suspect in cell to eke the truth out of him. This wavering stand is a perhaps Bollywood being okay with such tactics so that franchises like Singham-verse could survive of which Akshay is now part of. Cuttputlli Song Rabba: Akshay Kumar and Rakul Preet Singh Flaunt Their Moves in This Cool Number Crooned by Sukhwinder Singh.

The romantic portions between Arjan and Divya also divert away from the film's strong-hold (also a problem with Ratsasan), with the lack of chemistry between the leads doing its mischief as well. What's the point of making an adaptation when you can't iron out the flaws of the original, but instead add more of your own there? The only tampering done here is that Cuttputlli doesn't retain the same grisly aftermath of the killings - the injuries on the corpses here felt a little 'artificial' compared to the horrifying wounds seen in Ratsasan.

Still, Cuttputlli is engaging in most of its second act before it enters the weak third act. Look, I believe I was one of the few ones who didn't like the killer reveal of Ratsasan, because (little SPOILERS ahead) I am not in favour of using a deformity as an excuse for a character to turn psychopathic. It, in fact, only increases the existing apprehensiveness in society's outlook towards such differently-abled people. Cuttputlli not only retains the same reveal, but goes further ahead and waters down these portions with a rushed treatment. For a film that supposedly deals with the understanding of how a psychopathic killers work, Cuttputlli merely skims over the psychological evaluation as it heads for a hero vs villain fight scene. This rushed treatment definitely weakens what is still a decent remake otherwise.

Yay!

- Engaging Middle Portions

Nay!

- The First Act and The Third Acts are Weaker in Comparison

- Akshay's Casting

- Weak Romantic Track

Final Thoughts

For those who haven't watched Ratsasan, Cuttputlli is a decent investigative thriller and worth a watch. However, the star's casting, a rushed third act and the fact that the remake doesn't do anything to overshadow the original or tinker with its flaws to better it, also makes it pretty forgettable when done. Cuttputlli is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 02, 2022 09:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).