Someone has to explain this to our filmmakers — while it is commendable to have the viewers guessing until the very end, what is unpardonable is to not have a story at all!
Vodka Diaries, directed by ad filmmaker Kushal Srivastava, has misgivings about the genre and it is now my job to break it to him and to all of you that Vodka Diaries is not a thriller. It is just a wafer thin plot with gaping loopholes canopied under the mantle of such secrecy that no one knows what the story really is. Not even those entrusted with the job of writing it in the first place!
ACP Ashwini Dixit is a busybody trying to solve murders in Manali, he has a wife, played by Mandira Bedi, and a sidekick, portrayed by Sharib Hashmi, and owns a pub named Vodka Diaries intrinsically linked to the many murders.
In the middle of a murder investigation, Dixit’s wife disappears. Now with the dual job of finding the killer and looking for his better half, things spiral out of control. At a certain point, the doe eyed Raima Sen is introduced to the narrative, saying she will help unravel the mystery. But what that mystery is, is still a mystery. What one does know is that this painful watch that is Vodka Diaries should be kept at arms length.
Characters are introduced and then abruptly pulled out, and the obnoxious screenplay has no dearth of twists. But frankly no one knows what is happening, but still we carry on hoping that the arduous watch will reap some meaty climax.
But what is in store is the same nauseous hangover you get after a night-long Vodka drinking session. Imagine how bad the film has to be to make even Kay Kay Menon unpalatable.
Give this a miss and you shall not regret anything.
1 quint out of 5!
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