Watch TrailerUT69 Movie Review: It’s only fair that I express my initial concern before I even start to mildly appreciate the attempt made by Raj Kundra with his acting debut in UT69. Because expectations always lead to a review, whether it is glowing or not.
To begin with, it is a biopic or a true story by the very person on whom the film is based. And the story is also written by Kundra himself. This means it is, by all means, a hagiography. Having done time (63 days to be precise) this perhaps is an opportune moment to revisit the events that punctuated Kundra’s life. UT69, which narrates the story of the businessman, who is now an actor, and was imprisoned for two months after he was booked for allegedly running a pornography racket doesn’t attempt to whitewash Kundra’s image but what it does try to do is somewhere evoke sympathy for the man and make you believe, he has done no wrong in his life.
UT69 never touches upon the actual case and it surely shies away from asking tough questions about Kundra’s alleged involvement in the pornography racket. The film is a dialled-down and tamer version of Kundra’s life where the makers also attempt to make the media a villain.
At less than two hours of runtime, the film takes its own sweet time to begin the proceedings and it starts to feel tedious. The film does pick up pace in the second half but certain sequences tend to get repetitive which doesn’t keep the audience engaged. Like repeatedly showing the horrifying conditions of the jail which may look very disgusting and makers don’t hesitate to bring them again and again just to show the severity of the bad prison management.
From being frequently asked about his movie star wife Shilpa Shetty Kundra, and living a life in a cell where almost 250 people are made to sleep in a place meant for 50, the film takes us through the journey of a VIP man being treated as any other convicted person. The film builds too many episodes in its zeal to prove the atrocities that Kundra had gone through but how the man stayed strong and never complained.
Being in front of the camera for the first time, Kundra doesn’t try to act which makes it wholly believable. The only thing that bothered me was his accent. While he has stayed a major part of his life in the United Kingdom, he doesn’t have the British accent that is shown in the film. Apart from Kundra, there are many other debutants in the film including director Shahnawaz Ali, co-writer Vikram Bhatt, and cinematographer Kevin Jason Crasta and all of them manage to do a decent job.
To say in the opening credits that the film is a cinematic representation made to portray the human story creates doubt in the minds of the viewers with what purpose the film is made and it also takes away something crucial, something electric.
UT69 doesn’t address any grey areas in Kundra’s life. No names taken, no controversy, no rubbing people the wrong way. Because when you’re making a biopic, there’s probably an unwritten rule filmmakers in India swear by: don’t go into troubled territories. Despite its flaws, UT69 is a decent attempt. At the same time, the degree of Raj Kundra’s culpability remains debatable.
