In the recently released LOOTCASE (2020) directed by Rajesh Krishnan, a lower middle class worker, Kunal Khemu, accidently finds a bag full of money outside a public toilet. In CHHAPPAD PHAAD KE (2019) directed by Sameer Hemant, a middle class family headed by Vinay Pathak suddenly finds a bag full on money lying along a dead body in the woods when they narrowly escape an accident on a lonely road. And before these both in SANKAT CITY (2009) directed by Pankaj Advani, a small-time car-thief Kay Kay Menon surprisingly finds a bag full of money in a stolen car.
Interestingly, all the three films mentioned above belong to the genre of Black Comedy and they all have the bag full of money belonging to a gangster/politician/loan-shark/builder nexus of the city who are desperate to have it back through their own sources.
Giving you the real picture, though none of these films is any exceptionally outstanding venture deserving a very high rating, they still have their own distinctive entertainment value featuring three talented lead actors as Kunal Khemu, Vinay Pathak and Kay Kay Menon respectively.
CHHAPPAD PHAAD KE
To be fair, despite being the most technically polished film of all, CHHAPPAD PHAAD KE struggles to impress post a very fine start, unnecessary getting into local politics and adding a few forced insertions in its second half. Thankfully it does bounce back with a brave climax that might not get liked or appreciated by many. At the same time, it largely keeps relying on Vinay Pathak alone in its entire duration, giving less emphasis to the supporting cast featuring Ayesha Raza, Sheetal Thakur and Siddharth Menon as the family members.
Having said that, it still remains a watchable social satire on middle income group families having their own unfulfilled desires, the open existence of fraudulent Chit-fund schemes, the local politicians taking advantage of this all and more. Overall, it can simply be called an average film that could have been a lot better with such interesting plot and cast.
Rating: 2.5 / 5
LOOTCASE (2020) and SANKAT CITY (2009)
On the other hand, both LOOTCASE and SANKAT CITY are designed as black comedy of errors commenting upon various aspects of the metro cities in their individual portrayals. Yes they have their own share of absurdities (more visible in LOOTCASE, for instance the notes flowing from the rooftop), but they still remain entertaining due to their engaging story progression and quick chain of events having many related characters and sub-plots. To be specific, both these films work more because of their well-conceived supporting characterisations (along with the lead), adding a lot to their overall impact on the viewers.
Where in LOOTCASE we have Rasika Dugal, Ranvir Shorey, Vijay Raaz, Gajraj Rao and more having their individual sequences and dialogues. In SANKAT CITY there is Anupam Kher, Rimi Sen, Chunky Pandey, Dilip Prabhavlkar, Virendra Saxena, Rahul Dev, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma and more.
In short, though I really expected LOOTCASE to be a lot more than it is, the film still delivers as a black comedy/thriller, superbly led by the immensely likable and entertaining Kunal Khemu.
Rating: 3 / 5
However my personal vote remains with SANKAT CITY and the Late Pankaj Advani film certainly needs to be seen as a must.
The review of SANKAT CITY, written at the time of its release more than a decade back in 2009 can be read at the following link:
Cheers!
(Note: At the time of writing this article, both LOOTCASE & CHHAPPAD PHAAD KE could be seen at Hotstar and SANKAT CITY at Zee5 as well as at Youtube.)
