Watch TrailerWhat are the quintessential ingredients to make the most perfect survival thriller? According to the precedence set by Anushka Sharma’s brilliant NH10 in 2015, it should boast of a fast-paced narrative, a spiffy cinematography and ample edge-of-the-seat and nail biting moments that dish out a sensation of fear and danger, peppered with episodes that make you want to close your eyes and take a moment to breathe in and out and yet keep you glued to its gripping storytelling.
It’s rather good news that eight and a half years later, we now have a new survival thriller that will perhaps go down as another suspenseful story that’s almost as impeccable as the former. Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt’s Apurva starring Tara Sutaria in the titular character is very NH10-esque in nature. A young and bright girl from Madhya Pradesh meets a dashing banker Siddharth through an arranged marriage set-up and is set to marry him soon. On his last birthday as a bachelor, Apurva decides to surprise him. She takes a bus ride to Agra to meet him and what could have become a memorable time for the two of them turns into her worst nightmare.
A gang of goons-cum-dacoits stops the bus somewhere in the barren lands of Chambal and ends up kidnapping her. Her phone gets snatched away and she’s put in the boot of a car and taken to a deserted location. How she manages to break free from the shackles of these sadist men who don’t bat an eye lid before killing or sexually assaulting someone forms the rest of the story. Thrown into this is her fiancé who fights the indolent police and decides to venture into an unknown territory to rescue her.
Nikhil, who recently received heaps of praise for Kill at the TIFF, creates another impactful story that has violence, gore and gun powder sprinkled all over it. In fact, Apurva begins with a rather bloody sequence where the menacing gang loots and murders a bunch of people travelling to Jhansi in the name of fun and games and ‘competition’. And that sets the tone of the rest of the story. Nikhil makes sure that he wastes no time and dives straight into the core theme of the narrative. Here, there’s no justification for what made Jugnu, Sukha, Balli and Chhota so sinister, ominous and blood thirsty, and that’s quite refreshing.
At 1 hour 35 minutes, Apurva makes for a rather crisp narrative. Nikhil deserves credit for writing a screenplay that rarely loses pace. It’s thrilling and gripping and makes you uncomfortable and distressed scene after scene. The tension he builds every time we see Apurva hiding from her perpetrators who are hell-bent on outraging her modesty and killing her ruthlessly is palpable. Many a times, you will catch yourself feeling breathless and even panicking and praying for the protagonist. Cinematographer Anshuman Mahaley perfectly captures the essence of a desolate Chambal and his lenses enhance the fear looming large over the film. Shivkumar Panicker’s editing chops and Vishal Mishra’s eerie background score add to the discomfort.
What, however, seems like a misfit is the track encapsulating Apurva and Siddharth’s love story. While it helps establish her background and why he goes against the tide to fight for her safety, it could have been trimmed further. In fact, Siddharth’s aim to rescue Apurva as a parallel narrative doesn’t quite add any substance to the crux of the plot. Having said that, their moments of bliss as a flashback do bring some amount of respite amid all the tension, suspense and ghoulishness.
In a film career spanning four years, this is the first time that Tara is seen playing such a meaty part and she does a stupendous job. She gives it her all, pushes the envelope, steps out of her comfort zone, makes you root for her against all odds and is a complete revelation. Her helplessness and decision to choose violence over death and defeat tugs at your heartstrings. Having become synonymous with glamorous parts and playing the second fiddle to heroes all throughout her career, Apurva will hopefully mark the beginning of a new chapter for her.
She constantly will remind you of Meera from NH10. In fact, much like the anti-climax from NH10, in a certain scene in Apurva, she’s seen trying to drive over Sukha and bring an end to his life in a divine way. You will find yourself clapping and hyping her up even for the smallest of her triumphs as she tries to free herself from the world of evil that she has been trapped in. There’s so much potential lying in Tara and Nikhil deserves applause for tapping it with aplomb.
Rajpal Yadav returns to play an antagonist years after dabbling in comedy roles. His portrayal of Jugnu is menacing and this should be a wake-up call for filmmakers to cast him in more diverse parts. Abhishek Banerjee, who has earlier garnered appreciation for his evil acts in Ajji and Paatal Lok, delivers a spine-chilling performance as Sukha. You end up hating him right since his first scene. His sinister smirk and smile is blood-curdling. It is Dhairya Karwa, however, who fails to create an impact. He has a limited screen time and like mentioned earlier, his character doesn’t have much to offer to the plot.
Apurva is a complete surprise package. Helming a well-packed thriller is no cakewalk but this one is well-made and is smartly and intelligently put together by Nikhil. A trigger warning at the beginning of the film would have definitely helped considering its violence quotient. However, it perfectly fills up the void left by the array of lackluster and insipid thrillers that continue to be made in galore. Yes, Apurva will leave you frazzled from time to time and that’s where the excellence of the makers lie. Don’t give this one a miss!
