Been a while since we saw a first day first show, right?
23rd September is NATIONAL CINEMA DAY
Dhoka Round D corner trailer had made us all expect something out of the blue. We were prepared to doubt every character. But we were not made to doubt every character. That's the flaw. In movies like these you've to make us doubt EVERYONE. I mean, everyone.
Dhoka Round D corner Movie Review
After Dhokha Round D corner you feel exactly like Aparshakti Khurana in this poster. He steals the show. You feel for his character. And ONLY his character.
Dhokha Round D corner Story Plot
Aparshakti Khurrana as the "terrorist" who takes a middle class house wife hostage in broad daylight as the husband, Madhavan waits with the Inspector, STEALS THE SHOW all the way. You feel for his character. And this poster is exactly what Dhokha Round D corner IS. What the hell?
That's how you feel. You feel the same Whaaaaaat post interval in Jana Gana Mana (Malayalam masterpiece) but in a good way. Where the film is so intelligent it slaps you across the face, shakes your core, cheats you desperately for whatever it made you believe in the 1st half.
I hoped a similar experience from a movie literally named Dhokha Round D corner. The only dhokha that we got was, the lady kept on yelling, "The ENTIRE STAR CAST is coming to meet you".
But apparently Madhavan is not in the starcast. Dhristi spoilt our movie experience by EVEN STOPPING the movie while the lovely romantic ending song was going on. Credits hadn't even rolled! The audacity! I mean, I understand maybe she was forced to. But, you didn't have to get us super excited that the ENTIRE STAR CAST is coming to meet us when we only had Khushali Kumar, Aparshakti Khurana and Darshan Kumar.
Dhokha Round D corner Review WITHOUT SPOILERS
I'll try my best to not spoil the movie. So, DO NOT SCROLL down. I'll give due warning before ranting about the story, what could have been, etc.
It's a very good movie with some twists that you really don't see coming. AT ALL. But, I've a feeling people would rather enjoy it when it comes on OTT.
The trailer had made us doubt the wife. It's a very simple story, which is a plus point. Wife. Husband. Terrorist. Simple, right? We were promised that we will never know what's coming. But why did we know what's coming in some parts? Because the director or whoever approved the final cut couldn't see that we, the audience can also see, what's real and what's the first dhokha right in the first few minutes. You could see a mile away Madhavan is lying. (The numerological spelling for Yathaarth Sinha makes no sense because his character personality wasn't developed much for us to know how Yathaarth is different than Madhavan).
Worth a watch?
Yes. For Aparshakti Khurrana, how beautifully he went into that role.
Why did Gone Girl work?
Movies like these that rely solely on narratives require the audience to believe the narrator FIRST with all their heart, and then due to events that happen doubt that there is something wrong with the narrator and one of the narratives presented is actually not true and did not happen in reality. There are several kinds of realities one that really happened and one that you are seeing from the character’s perspective, that may or may not have actually happened.
Now movies talking directly to you, the audience, whatever it is showing you actually happened, or at least how you conclude. In Jana Gana Mana they played with that. It was not the character’s perspective but the movie directly talking to you and the movie first said this is what happened and later post-interval really messed with your mind again with exposition.
What went wrong with Dhokha Round D corner?
In Dhokha Round D corner, some narratives are shown with such conviction, you BELIEVE them. And some narratives are shown with such insincere approach, you ALREADY know they're lying. Or atleast, that's what the character believes but it isn't thr truth, for sure.
Is this propaganda to sympathize with Muslim terrorists?
Dhokha Round D corner also plays an intelligent twist. To take revenge for an innocent Muslim being targeted as terrorist, they actually DO terror. So, YOU ARE essentially reiterating and PROVING the narrative of doubting Muslims. Defeating the purpose royally. I doubt if radicals can see this nuance. But it's a hilarious self aware joke. Muslims be like 🤦♀️ Ikr. Terror only strengthens the narrative of "misconception" adding to more innocents being doubted.
And that's exactly why you relate to Aparshakti Khurrana's Haq Gul. Because, anyone can relate to his character in Dhokha Round D corner.
☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ Spoiler warning: Now the lovers of knowing a story and YET watching it will dissect and over analyse this movie Dhokha Round D Corner. So, beware and run for your life if you hate spoilers!
Now, that I've made it clear, if you hate spoilers, you're not allowed to scroll down any further, feel free to comment on Facebook (added that comment form right at the end of this post).
Dhokha Round D corner EXPLAINED
Innocent Haq Gul ( Gul meaning flower) was repeatedly expanded on showing us his innocent side.
In the scene of Aparshakti Khurana's Haq Gul yelling to his mentor", I'll give justice to innocents!" you saw dedication. Whether or not he did terror thinking he's doing justice to innocents, you KNEW he did terror. But that lone scene was NOT expanded in the movie. AT ALL. Worse, you saw it coming from the Inspector who'd a linear direction. Through out the film he seemed like an insincere inspector. So, why would you trust his narrative?
This exposition of Haq Gul being a deadly terrorist comes way later in the movie when the REAL Haq Gul has convinced you he's innocent.
We knew Madhavan was cheating right from the beginning
How do we judge Haq Gul?
Every thing we know about him is based on what he has said. But we still trust him because he really seems sincere in what he is saying. How do we judge people that we see in our lives? By what they tell us about themselves. Usually, we see their mannerisms. We don’t always get to corroborate it with supporting evidence. How does the character react when he’s absolutely alone? He is absolutely consistent and is not changing his character for even a second. The end even seals it.
So what happened in Dhokha Round D corner?
Husband's deception no.1
Is Madhavan (Yathaarth Sinha) giving wife Sanchi Sinha (Khushali Kumar) the pills to make her insane?
Wife's Dhokha (Deception) No.1
Wife was deceiving because she told his gun is empty. She wanted to be free. Going to the terrorist's gaon was a big fat lie.
Shock value decreased because the film gave it away that she made him take out the bullets! Had they chopped that scene and showed it AFTER the glass breaking and him going up, while trying to understand how he was fooled, it would have made so much sense. Haq Gul was stupid enough to listen to all the RED FLAGS and go down. But the audience is not stupid. We needed to be fooled first and then revealed that our vessel through which we are seeing the movie — Haq Gul is even more stupid than we thought he is.
Wife's Dhokha no. 2
Showing that Sanchi was always in control, in threatening the Inspector, I'm seducing the terrorist, to the point of making him leave EVERYTHING he asked for —50 lakhs, Jibran,, why should we believe she couldn't walk out of this trap?
Sanchi Sinha was all powerful Cleopatra, right? So, in the end of Dhokha Round D Corner when you know Sanchi was innocent, & was really being medicated to be insane, why didn't this Cleopatra figure out a way to WALK OUT without being killed?
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