Movie review 'Roy': Tiring self-indulgence

We hate to diss on debutant directors more so when they show real talent. We give a long leeway to Bollywood’s first-time directors knowing how much they must compromise to see their dream become a reality.

So watching Roy evokes that painful thought of a director’s passionate dream being botched up at the producer’s table. It is an assumption, of course, but the proceedings of the film justify it.

Debutant director Vikramjit Singh, sure, had a heavy core for his film. While seemingly pretentious, there is an inherent sincerity in the story of a hit-maker director Kabir (Arjun Rampal), who hits a writer’s block, and will find inspiration in the story of a mysterious thief, whom he will call Roy (Ranbir Kapoor).

But just like Kabir trying desperately to overcome his block with terrible meanderings in his script and life, so does the film’s script. It wanders all over the place, and often becomes the writer-director Vikramjit’s plodding self-indulgence.

He has too much to say, unlock several mysteries that is called life, and in attempting too much in one go, within the format of a commercial Bollywood film, Roy becomes too laboured.

The romantic angle seeps in the form of Ayesha (Jacqueline Fernandez), who in fact plays three roles – one as Ayesha, two as Tia, the Ayesha look-alike heroine of Kabir’s film Roy (her character or personality not at all explained and conveniently sidelined) and three, the love in the life of the real Roy – who too goes by the name Tia.

Confused? You cannot be blamed.

See, here is Kabir scripting the story of the painting thief; he calls him Roy. There is a real Roy, the real painting thief. Kabir plots a story, and that exactly is how Roy’s life too progresses.

Now to the crux of the film: Kabir loses his plot after Ayesha dumps him for his seeming frivolousness in relationships; Roy, the thief, steals a painting from Tia in real life and that breaks her heart. Finally, reel meets real or real meets reel, and loose ends are tied up.

The entire process is as convoluted as described above. The boundaries between real, reel and fantasy are blurred. Roy’s real life comes into the picture almost like an afterthought – and most irritatingly, everyone in the film speaks in riddles. There are no straight answers or questions.

On the plus side, Vikramjit’s attempt to explore love has genuine gravitas, getting into the existential dilemmas of people who have loved and lost. Two, the film is gorgeously shot. Every frame by Himman Dhamija is mood-based, rich and fantastic.

And three, Arjun Rampal effortlessly under-acts the pivotal role. His subtlety (which could be perceived by his critics as deadpan) goes well with the character. His expressions and mannerisms are refined, although the shake of head and rolling of eyes do tend to be repetitive.

Ranbir Kapoor is under-utilised and just delivers the ‘brooding, intense’ look that Kabir creates for his character.
Jacqueline does justice to her roles but she lacks the depth to get under the skin of the characters making them appear inconsistent. And the bright red lipstick to differentiate Ayesha from Tia doesn’t help either.

Roy could have been far more engaging if only it had a clear identity. The effort to be mainstream, commercial and arthouse, all at the same time, becomes its biggest burden.