Dhokha: Round D Corner film review: R Madhavan, Aparshakti Khurana are lost in this delusional film about delusions

1.5/5

STORY: In a nutshell, everyone's sleeping with everyone and everyone is aware of who is being directed to whose bed, and at what time. But blame men not for it is enchantress Sanchi (Khushali Kumar) that prompts them to pull their pants down with basis play-girl moves. Say what? 

REVIEW: There are movies that derive 'inspiration' from popular works from their genre of interest, and then there are movies that genuinely inspire others with their groundbreaking style of storytelling. After watching Dhokha: Round D Corner, I learnt that a third breed of cinema exists where makers are audacious enough to put together a script purely based on delusions—quite literally!—and thrust it upon us as a full-length feature film. I wonder if the actors are put under some kind of spell while signing such movies.

Dhokha: Round D Corner is far removed from reality and pivots from the conventional form of phsychological thrillers, and not in a way director Kookie Gulati had hoped for. 

Feared terrorist Gul Haq (Aparshakti Khurana) escapes prison during a routine cell transfer and takes refuge in, you guessed it right, troubled hottie Sanchi's high-rise apartment. With focus on her plunging neckline and mock-orgasmic voice, Sanchi convinces her captor that they could leave the situation unscathed if he puts a gun to her head and asks for money and a car from the police force stationed outside her home. Gul, who was convicted of ruthlessly killing 13 college students just six months back, is quick to fall in love and begins to breathe heavily the same way actors would in Bollywood movies from the 90s right before the copulation scene. Trust me when I say this, the word cringe does not even do justice to the kind of trauma I was put through during the course of the film.

R Madhavan, an otherwise expressive actor, plays a classic rich-old 'dhokebaaz' but lacks conviction and, in my opinion, any genuine interest in playing the role of a half-baked potentially complex Yatharth Sinha. Khurana probably knew midway into the movie that the film was headed for doom and seems completely checked out in the second half. His put-on Kashmiri accent was a put-off though, and he shouldn't have been in the film in the first place. Same goes for Madhavan and Darshan Kumar, too. 

Dhokha: Round D Corner tries to marry human depravity with the concept of alternative reality (if you have been to journalism school, then Rashōmon would definitely come to mind for a split second) but executed from the standpoint of a child lost in a candy store. The dialogues are cringy, the cinematography is cringy, the script is pointless and the so-called conflicts in the film feel forced and are absolutely hilarious for a psychological thriller. 

Dhokha: Round D Corner is cinema's revenge on film criticism, and I thought Dulquer Salmaan was shouldering that responsibilty.