Director Anurag Kashyap treads familiar ground with Raman Raghav 2.0. It is overwhelmingly dark with deep macabre undertones. Kashyap gets the moral pendulum oscillating between his prime characters - one a cold-blooded murder and another who has all the makings of becoming one. He subtly draws parallels between the personalities of his men who stand on opposite sides of the spectrum. Raman beautifully puts it in one of the film’s early scenes that after all, he and Raghav are the same people but the police uniform validates or criminalises their actions.
Anurag sets his story in a drab corner of the city’s slums. That’s where Raman finds most of his victims - a hapless housemaid, an uncle who abused him as a kid, his own sister. The references to the original serial killer’s life is overwhelming. There is a scene in which Raman tightens the screw of his weapon as he cooks chicken curry and tells his sister’s husband how he would rape her.
The film has its quirks laced with the unmissable dark humour but the writing lacks depth. The characters are uni-dimensional but Kashyap keeps the narrative lucid. Raghav, a coke snorting, careless cop is blamed by his girlfriend for the three abortions she undergoes. He has his cruel daddy issues to blame for his own warped behaviour.
Nawaz wears his nonchalance in style and gives a pitch perfect performance. Vicky Kaushal is sincere and does his best to match Nawaz. Shobhita Dhulipala ( Miss Earth India 2013) shows promise in her limited screen space.
Though you can fault Raman Raghav 2.0 for its gore but Kashyap redeems with a simple logic - Ramasys, ’killing for insanity is better than killing in the name of religion? ’ The film is a difficult watch. It makes you queasy. It is crude, callous and keeps you in suspense all through.