Two brothers caught in an not possible scenario spiralling uncontrolled and not using a lid in sight, in a Dwelling-In-Two-Indias set-up: the premise of Stolen is sharp and present, and it begins out by pushing its unprepared protagonists, and us, right into a state of excessive alert.
Gautam (Abhishek Banerjee) is in a swanky SUV exterior a prepare station at nighttime, ready for his ‘chota bhai’ Raman (Shubham Vardhan) to alight from a horribly delayed prepare. At across the similar time, a child is snatched from subsequent to a sleeping lady.
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Within the typical course of issues, the 2 policemen (Harish Khanna and Sahidur Rahaman) on the job would have ignored the distraught younger mom: Jhumpa Mahato (Mia Maelzer) is a lone tribal lady spending the night time on a station bench; ergo, she doesn’t rely. However the presence of Raman, clearly upper-class-and-caste, makes them cease of their tracks: can he, and his impatient brother who’s all for making off as quick as attainable, assist or hinder? Can the oppressed be squashed a little bit extra? And most significantly, can a fast buck be made on the facet?
It takes 93 minutes for ‘Stolen’ to get the place it does– from that swiftly executed theft to a tea-stall boy on the station who claims to have seen something, to the corralling of the Bansal brothers, the youthful one personifying the mushy bleeding-hearts sort who feels accountable and desires to assist, the elder one wanting to make use of his cash to get out of bother not of his making, the arrival of armed villagers out in full drive on the hearsay of baby-stealing gangs, and a bloody denouement created to shifts a couple of needles.
Whereas all the things is clearly geared in the direction of making the proceedings pressing, that essential sense of urgency comes by solely sporadically. Vardhan is a bit more comfortable than Bannerjee, however each really feel like they’re appearing out sibling components, with out shared lived-in textures. It’s Maelzer who’s extra genuine, each to her half in addition to to the sensation that she offers off: of a girl on the finish of her tether, buffeted by destiny and scenario. The writers (Tejpal, Gaurav Dhingra, Swapnil Salkar) reach making her a little bit extra advanced than she seems to start with, inflicting us to query her motivation: is she actually who she claims to be, or is there one thing sinister in the way in which she has come by the newborn? Has she been stolen from, or has she completed the stealing?
Chase scenes with the automobile bouncing alongside sand dunes and lathi-clad males on bikes add to the run time, however not one in every of these characters has a face. By the point the stakes get really excessive is in the direction of the third act, by which the trio finds themselves in a dusty village, working for his or her lives. The query of who the sufferer is, and who the aggressor, one of many themes that the movie desires us to consider, comes into play right here, the place the privilege of wealth and flashy vehicles and garments recedes within the face of mob fury: that is the place Gautam, terrified and helpless, rises to the event.
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Stripped of his shields, he’s as susceptible as anybody else, and it is just then that he sees the younger lady for who she actually is, and that that is the place the movie was heading, to this city saviour discovering his conscience. Going by his earlier roles, Bannerjee is handiest when taking part in vile or foolish; right here his character discovering redemption turns into the lens by which the bigger societal injustice is considered, making it narrower and never as impactful. And I wasn’t left as shaken as I’d anticipated to be.
Stolen
Stolen solid – Abhishek Banerjee, Shubham Vardhan, Mia Maelzer, Harish Khanna, Sahidur Rahaman
Stolen director – Karan Tejpal
Stolen score – 2.5/5