'Berlin' movie review: The film’s got the ‘feels’!

Movie BerlinOn ZEE5Dir Atul SabharwalCast Aparshakti Khurana Ishwak SinghRating 35The Cold War is a fullblown genre in the West with America of course as its epicentreNot that India was immune to it What has been Indian cinemarsquos contribution to the genre The best one I can think ofmdashor at least top of mind given recency biasmdashis Vikramaditya Motwanersquos Prime Video series Jubilee 2023Given how brilliantly it weaves in AmericanRussian spies while fictionally retelling history of Indian cinemamdashwith Bombay Talkiesrsquo Himanshu Rai Raj Kapoor et al pushed into a covert globalcultural turf warAtul Sabharwal wrote Jubilee Hersquos writtendirected the espionage suspensethriller Berlinmdashactually about the end of Cold War That essentially got sealed with the fall of the Berlin Wall 1991 isnrsquot itBerlin for the moviersquos metaphorical title refers to a cafeacute in 1993 Lutyensrsquo DelhiWhich works more like a stockexchange where state secrets would traditionally get traded Only that the Cold War is over The same rules neednrsquot apply The world has changed Some remainwhere they wereOr as the line in the film describes the regulars of Berlin Cafeacute ldquoIndustry ka trend shift huamdashjo wahan khade the khade the Jo predict kar paye nikal gayerdquoAs in the spyindustryrsquos trends changed Those who could tell survived rest got left behind For some reason it sounded like an observation on movieindustry veterans and aspirants to meEspecially for the line that follows ldquoCafeacute mein coffee peene se career nahin bante You donrsquot make careers out of hanging in cafesrdquoBerlin as a movie reflects that change in the industry it emerges from The film is a spythriller sure but so eerie realistic and subdued that it makes for a perfect solowatch on an OTT although an arthouse release wouldrsquove been just as greatImagine the lead actorsmdashgiven whatrsquos an actiongenre in the mainstream but with almost zero stunts in itmdashjostling jamming delivering their most bombastic dialogues in sign language And they hit punchlinesmdashlike howBasically a mysterious deafmute person Ishwak Singh has been nabbed by the Indian internal intelligence agency namely Bureau for alleged involvement in the potential assassination attempt on a visiting Russian President guessing Boris YeltsinThe Bureau blokesmdashled by the suitably riledup Rahul Bosersquos charactermdashemploy a signlanguage teacher named Pushkin Aparshakti Khurana from a Sovietstyle government institute to lead the interrogationWhat follows is a chamber drama that doesnrsquot obviously preach to the choir It sticks to the suspense alrightmdashbut draws you in more and more foremost with the atmosphericsOr the worldbuilding as it were Visually transporting you to the early rsquo90smdashthrough the Contessa Fiat cars Atlas cycle hoarding National Panasonic cassetterecorderhellipItrsquos something that director Sabharwal excelled equally with capturing early rsquo80s in the gloomy copdrama Class of 83 2020But much more than that itrsquos the asphyxiating quality of this film pretty much shot behind hard closed doors by Shree Namjoshi that wakes you up to watchAnd notice the sounds and score in the quietness Or observe the bureaucratic brutalist architecture of the sparse dry spaces all the characters inhabit and are evidently entrapped inThe film looks cold in a John le Carreacute space like Cold War itself It helps that you feel the same way about the two leads as wellWe know nothing about the signlanguage instructor Pushkinmdashthere isnrsquot a long runup for his backstorymdashbefore he gets tangled in redtape Thatrsquos Aparshakti ie star Ayushmann Khurranarsquos brotherNow I have a theory about siblings in the same profession The older one inevitably does better given the headstart Unless itrsquos sports where the younger sibling has the privilege of practicing with the elder one from an early ageWith acting I think the younger one is somewhat screwed with an obvious disadvantage if the siblings look like each othermdashAnilSanjay Kapoor AnupamRaju Kher etcAparshakti is visibly different from Ayushmann also with separate stylemanners He totally stands as his ownOpposite him is Ishwak Paatal Lok Rocket Boys who plays Ashok Kumar which is the reallife role that Aparshakti portrayed in JubileeTo think of it Ashok Kumar is John Doe in Indian law A proxy name used when we donrsquot know who the person is What do we learn about this lsquoAshok KumarrsquoOf course Irsquom not gonna tell you that Or anything else for that matter since Irsquod like you to watch this film instead I do know how yoursquore likely to respond though once you have watched the movieYoursquore inevitably gonna call it lsquomoodyrsquo if a millennial lsquovibeyrsquo if GenZ ldquoslowburnrdquohellip What it essentially means is the filmrsquos got the lsquofeelsrsquo Just donrsquot let intricacies of the plot get in the way of the laid back lilting experience though

'Berlin' movie review: The film’s got the ‘feels’!

Movie: Berlin
On: ZEE5
Dir: Atul Sabharwal
Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Ishwak Singh
Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / 'Berlin' movie review: The film’s got the ‘feels’!

'Berlin' movie review: The film’s got the ‘feels’!

Movie: BerlinOn: ZEE5Dir: Atul SabharwalCast: Aparshakti Khurana, Ishwak SinghRating: 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Movie: Berlin
On: ZEE5
Dir: Atul Sabharwal
Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Ishwak Singh
Rating: 3/5