Andhadhun (2018) Review: Blind Faith, Black Comedy

Is Andhadhun worth watching?

Yes. Andhadhun is a gleefully wicked thriller that keeps changing shape, and one of the most purely entertaining Hindi films of recent years. Sriram Raghavan builds a story in which almost nobody is what they seem, then plays it for suspense and dark laughs in equal measure, with Tabu giving a gloriously unpredictable performance. The one reservation is that the twists come so thick in the final act that the plotting starts to feel more clever than gripping.

What is Andhadhun about?

Akash (Ayushmann Khurrana) is a young pianist in Pune who is, or at least presents himself as, blind. He plays at a restaurant, dreams of composing, and begins a romance with Sophie (Radhika Apte) after a chance collision on the street. When a former film star hires him to give a private anniversary performance for his glamorous wife, Simi (Tabu), Akash arrives at their apartment and finds himself inside a situation that someone who cannot see should not be able to describe, and someone who can see should never have witnessed.

Andhadhun is directed by Raghavan and loosely inspired by the French short film The Piano Tuner. It is an Indian production in Hindi and runs 139 minutes. It won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Film, and Khurrana shared that year’s National Award for Best Actor. Its success spread well beyond India, notably in China.

A thriller that plays like a piano piece

Raghavan, whose earlier work includes the noirs Johnny Gaddaar and Badlapur, loves the mechanics of suspense, and here he designs scenes like set pieces, each one turning on who knows what and who can see whom. The central apartment sequence is a small masterpiece of tension and comedy at once: the audience knows more than some characters and less than others, and every note Akash plays becomes part of the drama.

The film also has a sly sense of humour about its own genre. Characters make disastrous decisions with total conviction, and every attempt to contain a problem creates two more. Amit Trivedi’s music, especially the piano pieces that Akash plays, gives the story a jaunty rhythm that makes the mounting chaos feel almost musical.

Tabu steals the show

Khurrana is excellent in a role that demands constant control. He has to play surprise, fear and calculation, often without being able to react openly, and he keeps the audience guessing about Akash’s motives while making him likeable. Radhika Apte is warm as Sophie, though the script gives her less to do as the plot thickens.

The film belongs, though, to Tabu. Simi is glamorous, ruthless, funny and oddly sympathetic, and Tabu plays her shifts from charm to menace with such ease that every scene she enters becomes more dangerous. It is a gleeful, fearless performance, and a reminder of why she is one of the most versatile actors in Indian cinema.

Where the twists start to crowd

The film’s appetite for reversals is also its main weakness. In the second half, new characters and complications keep arriving, and the plotting occasionally depends on coincidences that break the spell. The final stretch is ingenious but busy, and the tone swings between farce and cruelty in ways that some viewers will find jarring. None of this spoils the fun, but the tight, contained pleasures of the first hour are harder to sustain as the story sprawls.

Who should watch Andhadhun?

It is perfect for fans of twisty thrillers and black comedy, and a great entry point to Hindi cinema for viewers who usually avoid song-and-dance films. It has murder, violence and some gruesome moments played for dark laughs, so it suits older teenagers and adults. Avoid trailers and plot summaries if you can; the less you know, the better it works.

If it hooks you, try:

• Drishyam, another Hindi thriller about ordinary people trapped by a crime they must cover up.
• Laapataa Ladies, a lighter, cleverly plotted comedy of mix-ups from a very different corner of Hindi cinema.

The verdict

Andhadhun is a devilishly smart entertainment, a thriller that uses a single brilliant premise to spin out surprise after surprise, sharpened by black humour and a knockout Tabu. Its final act overplays its hand a little, but few Indian films of its era are as much pure fun.

Rating: 4.5/5