Ludo (film)
| Ludo | |
|---|---|
 Netflix release poster | |
| Directed by | Anurag Basu |
| Written by | Anurag Basu |
| Produced by | Bhushan Kumar Divya Khosla Kumar Krishan Kumar Anurag Basu |
| Starring | Abhishek Bachchan Aditya Roy Kapur Rajkummar Rao Pankaj Tripathi Fatima Sana Shaikh Sanya Malhotra Rohit Suresh Saraf Pearle Maaney |
| Cinematography | Anurag Basu Rajesh Shukla |
| Edited by | Ajay Sharma |
| Music by | Pritam |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Ludo is a 2020 Indian anthology black comedy crime film written and directed by Anurag Basu. It is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Divya Khosla Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anurag Basu, Tani Basu and Deepshika Bose under the banners of T-Series, Anurag Basu Productions and Ishana Movies.[2] It stars an ensemble cast of Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Pearle Maaney, Pankaj Tripathi, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Rohit Suresh Saraf, Saurabh Sharma, Shalini Vatsa, and Inayat Varma.[3][4][5] The film was released on 12 November 2020 coinciding with Diwali on Netflix.[1]
Plot
Ludo starts with two people contemplating life and death and they decide to play ludo. The game they play correlates to the lives of Sattu Bhaiya, Akash, Alu and Bittu.
Sattu Bhaiya is a notorious gangster who has to settle old scores with Bittu, who was once his right-hand man. Sattu Bhaiya becomes the dice of Ludo and Bittu forms the red side in Ludo.
Akash and Shruti form the yellow side. They find that someone has recorded a video of their affair and have uploaded it to the Internet. Then they start the race to find the culprit and take down the video before Shruti's would-be husband finds out.
The blue side is formed by Sheeja Thomas and Rahul Avasthi. Sheeja is a Malayali nurse who speaks only Malayalam while Rahul is a struggling young man from a small town being bullied by his boss. They find the treasure of Sattu Bhaiya and the gang chases them while they try to escape with the money.
The green side is formed by Alu and his school sweet heart Pinky. Pinky's husband becomes a suspect in a murder case and she seeks help from Alu to save him.
These four stories become entangled in a series of events, leading to an engaging climax where all four sides are present.
Cast
- Abhishek Bachchan as Batukeshwar "Bittu" Tiwari
- Aditya Roy Kapur as Akash Chauhan
- Rajkummar Rao as Alok “Alu” Kumar Gupta
- Pankaj Tripathi as Satyendra “Sattu” Tripathi
- Fatima Sana Shaikh as Pinky Jain
- Sanya Malhotra as Shruti Choksi
- Rohit Suresh Saraf as Rahul Awasthi
- Pearle Maaney as Sheeja Thomas
- Asha Negi as Asha
- Bhanu Uday as Bhanu
- Geetanjali Mishra as Sambhavi
- Ishtiyak Khan as Inspector Sukumar Sinha
- Anurag Basu as Narrator Yamraj (cameo)
- Rahul Bagga as Chitragupta (Cameo)
- Paritosh Tripathi as Pinky's husband Manohar Jain
- Akash Mahamana as the bearded goon
Production
Development
The film is produced by Anurag Basu, Taani Basu and Bhushan Kumar and features music by Pritam.[6]
Release
The film was initially scheduled to release on 24 April 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though they were rumors that the film will release on Amazon Prime Video, the release rights were sold to Netflix. The film was to release on 13 November, but then was pushed forward by one day to avoid a clash with Prime Video's Chhalaang. The film finally release on 12 November on Netflix
Reception
The film critics largely gave the film positive ratings. Anupama Chopra, Editor-in-Chief of Film Companion, wrote, "Whatever faults you might find with an Anurag Basu film, lack of invention isn’t one of them. The director creates worlds filled with whimsy and wonder, set to Pritam’s pulsating soundscape."[7] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote, "Still, in this time of corona, the virus finding an honourable mention in the movie, we could do with some fun and games, even if it slackens in bits," praising Basu for using "perky musical interludes" to narrate the story.[8] India Today reviewed the movie positively, calling it 'naram-garam and delicious' which is "out-of-the-box while staying firmly in the box."[9] A review by the Hindustan Times said, "despite its missteps, keeps it breezy, with its cast helping it to stay the course."[10] The Hindu film critic found that "the structure of Ludo written with careful precision and the construct is cleaner," which makes the film 'largely entertaining'.[11] While, The Wire's Tanul Thakur felt that Ludo 'suffers' because Basu is "more interested in the mechanics of this tapestry, the many ways in which the disparate stories intersect and inform each other, as opposed to the tapestry itself: its overarching meaning, its dramatic power, its psychological portraits."[12] Critic associated with the Deccan Herald received the movie as "a big disappointment".[13] The Quint's review of the film said that "the screenplay steers clear of extravagance, which works in its favor." "While the setting may seem fable-like, the emotions they evoke in us are authentic. It might take some time to get used to, but once we understand the spirit of the film Ludo can prove to be a lot of fun."[14]
Awards and nominations
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filmfare Awards | TBA | Best Film | Ludo | Nominated | [15] |
| Best Director | Anurag Basu | Nominated | |||
| Best Screenplay | Nominated | ||||
| Best Production Design | Nominated | ||||
| Best Actor | Rajkummar Rao | Nominated | |||
| Best Actor (Critics) | Nominated | ||||
| Best Actress (Critics) | Sanya Malhotra | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actor | Pankaj Tripathi | Nominated | |||
| Best Music Director | Pritam | Won | |||
| Best Background Score | Nominated | ||||
| Best Lyricist | Sayeed Qadri (For the song Humdum Hardam) | Nominated | |||
| Best Male Playback Singer | Arijit Singh (For the song Aabad Barbaad) | Nominated | |||
| Best Editing | Ajay Sharma | Nominated | |||
| Best Dialogue | Samrat Chakraborty | Nominated | |||
| Best Costume Design | Ashish Dwyer | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound Design | Abhishek Nair and Shijin Melvin Hutton | Nominated |
Soundtrack
| Ludo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 13 November 2020[16] | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 26:48 | |||
| Language | Hindi | |||
| Label | T-Series | |||
| Pritam chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Official audio | ||||
| Ludo - Full Album on YouTube | ||||
Basu revealed in an interview[17] with Grazia India that the song Hamdum Hardum was originally composed for Metro 2, a film that never got made. The film's music was composed by Pritam while lyrics were written by Sayeed Quadri, Sandeep Shrivastava, Tamojit Das, Shloke Lal, and Swanand Kirkire.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aabaad Barbaad" | Sandeep Shrivastava | Arijit Singh | 5:09 |
| 2. | "Hardum Humdum" | Sayeed Quadri | Arijit Singh | 3:08 |
| 3. | "Meri Tum Ho" | Sandeep Shrivastava, Shloke Lal | Jubin Nautiyal, Ash King | 3:47 |
| 4. | "Dil Julaha" | Swanand Kirkire | Darshan Raval | 3:38 |
| 5. | "Hardum Humdum" (Film Version) | Sayeed Quadri | Arijit Singh | 4:25 |
| 6. | "Meri Tum Ho" (Unplugged) | Sandeep Shrivastava, Shloke Lal | Jubin Nautiyal, Ash King | 3:33 |
| 7. | "Hardum Humdum" (Female) | Sayeed Quadri, Shloke Lal | Shilpa Rao | 3:08 |
| Total length: | 26:48 | |||
References
- ^ a b "Abhishek, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar, Pankaj Tripathi & others lives go beyond one's understanding". DNA. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ "T-Series & Anurag Basu's next titled Ludo starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur,Bhanu Uday Goswami to release on April 24, 2020". Bollywood Hungama. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- ^ "Ludo first poster: Anurag Basu announces film starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao". India Today. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- ^ "Ludo first look: Rajkummar Rao, Fatima Sana Shaikh walk in with a baby and swag to spare for Netflix release". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7212754/?ref_=nm_knf_t1
- ^ "Ludo". Netflix. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ^ Chopra, Anupama (12 November 2020). "Ludo Movie Review". Film Companion. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ Gupta, Shubhra (13 November 2020). "Ludo review: Hijinks in the time of Corona". The Indian Express. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mukherjee, Nairita (13 November 2020). "Ludo Movie Review: Abhishek Bachchan, Pankaj Tripathi Netflix film is naram-garam and delicious". India Today. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Ludo movie review: Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi roll the dice in an absurd, whimsical world". Hindustan Times. 12 November 2020.
- ^ S, Srivatsan (12 November 2020). "'Ludo' movie review: Largely entertaining, with an in-form Anurag Basu" – via www.thehindu.com.
- ^ "More Forced Than Felt, 'Ludo' Misses the Film for the Vignettes". thewire.in.
- ^ "'Ludo' movie review: A big disappointment". Deccan Herald. 13 November 2020.
- ^ Ghosh, Stutee (12 November 2020). "Review: Barring the Climax, 'Ludo' is a Unique, Entertaining Film". TheQuint.
- ^ "Nominations For The 66th Vimal Elaichi Filmfare Awards 2021". filmfare.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ "Ludo – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". ITunes.
- ^ Khan, Arman. "Anurag Basu: The Art and the Artist". Grazia India. Times Group. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
External links
- Ludo at IMDb
- Ludo at Bollywood Hungama