PremiumMerry Christmas director Sriram Raghavan's 'unapologetic killers' – Tabu in Andhadhun to Varun Dhawan in Badlapur
Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan’s anti-heroes are much more than cold-blooded murderers, they are people who don’t calculate the effect
Last Updated: 11.18 AM, Jan 05, 2024
The common definition of myopia reads, ‘short-sighted in every possible sense’. A word that best describes the killers in the Sriram Raghavan universe. Calling them killers and not villains because all of them were grey; not each one of them had intentions to become what they did in the process. Over the past couple of decades, Sriram has been reinventing his craft by trying his hands at story structures that are far from normal, almost like a jigsaw puzzle where you look for the one piece, and that’s the most difficult part. But what is more lucrative about his writing is how he shapes the anti-hero characters in his movies.
For them, whatever they are doing is right, and the world not ready to align with their idea is wrong. Be it Simi in Andhadhun or Raghu in Badlapur, they were drastically different from each other, but what puts them in the same bracket is that though they had a vicious streak in them, they never wanted to explore it. The filmmaker now comes to us with Merry Christmas starring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi. We have no idea about the plot, but we are aware that we will be caught off-guard yet again.
So as Sriram Raghavan gears up for the release of Merry Christmas, let’s take a look back at some anti-heroes that he wrote and have myopic written all over them.
Tabu In Andhadhun
Available On: Jio Cinema and YouTube.
She freezes a crab to sleep before she dips it into boiling water so it doesn’t suffer while dying, but doesn’t think twice before tossing an old lady down a high rise, ruining the eyes of a budding pianist, and more. Now you understand why we used the term myopic? Well, Tabu as Simi in Andhadhun is a character cinema will remember for ages to come. She is a seductress but also intimidating, a gold digger but also aware, her plan A is to kill people leaving no room for plan B, but she is good at heart ya!
Varun Dhawan & Nawazuddin Siddiqui In Badlapur
Available On: Zee5.
This is where Varun bloomed as an actor. Raghu is a killer turned by circumstances and rage. As a father and a husband, he lost his world in one night, and the craving for revenge doesn’t let him sleep. All he can see is death for his enemies, who were strangers a few hours ago. Badlapur is brutal in its very idea, and Raghu’s plan even more. He isn’t worried about what this might lead to; he does it, and whatever he does will only shock you one-fold higher every time. He and Liaq (Nawazuddin) are two sides of the same coin, but one did it in haste and the other planned.
Urmila Matondkar In Ek Hasina Thi
Available On: Prime Video.
She is a woman deceived by a man who framed her and sent her to prison for his own greed. When she escapes from prison with blood on her head and rage in her eyes, she is a bull who is not bothered about being sent to the cage again while stabbing her horn at everyone around her. In the hunt for her enemy, she gets on a killing spree like the world did wrong to her, and this has to be one of Urmila Matondkar’s best performances.
Neil Nitin Mukesh In Johnny Gaddaar
Available On: Prime Video.
Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh) has evil intentions from the word go. He plans a heist from his gang and gets on a train to steal money from his gang member. With no far-sighted plan in his head, he just does what he thinks of, and that leads to him killing the gang member. Soon he has to now silence every single person who knows his secret, and the list only keeps growing. Johnny Gaddaar certainly was too ahead of its time and deserves an audience now.
Merry Christmas is set to hit the big screen on January 12, 2024. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more on this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.