Preview:
Have you heard of this movie?
Are you crazy?
Am I insane?
Are you?
Are you drunk?
No, I am not.
Wanna be, without being drunk?
Watch this movie and get lost...
Get lost? Are you insulting me?
No, I am saying get lost in time..
The dialogue above describes this mind-bending film perfectly in short.
Review:
Almost too surreal to belong to mainstream Indian cinema, yet here it is—a genuine masterpiece of Indian art-house filmmaking.
It proves we possess the creative vision to pull off something as complex as David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, and do so in a deeply compelling, distinctly Indian manner.
Intelligently scripted, edited, and narrated, the film lives up to its mysterious title in every sense.
From start to finish, watching it feels like floating through a vivid, intoxicating dream. Credit to NFDC for backing such a courageous experiment.
Featuring a stellar ensemble of top-tier actresses across its segments, discovering this film felt like finding hidden treasure. I felt immense pride in the directors after watching it unfold.
The storytelling is packed with psychological motifs that challenge your perception of time and identity—like the recurring visual motif of the clock showing 10:10 throughout the narrative.
The protagonist, referred to simply as "K", conceals his true name for more than half the movie. Much like Lord Krishna (Kishen) surrounded by gopis, "K" has numerous women weaving in and out of his memory and life across different chapters—the South Indian girl, the hotel room encounter, the birthday gift, the job interview, the domestic help.
The interview segment in particular is top-notch with a brilliant script. The 8 to 8 concept was executed with remarkable sharp focus. While each short story could easily have been expanded into a standalone feature, stitching them together creates a unified, surreal tapestry.
Don't rely solely on mainstream aggregate ratings or conventional review sites—many critics failed to grasp or accept how daringly this masterpiece stands against similar Hollywood psychological thrillers.
While having multiple directors shoot separate stories for an anthology is common, having 11 different directors direct individual segments that seamlessly form a single contiguous story is exceedingly rare.
Dare to watch it if you are a true lover of cinema. We are living in an imaginary world... save me!
Nothing more to say. Go experience the movie for yourself.