Blackmail – Movie Review

Directed by Abhinay Deo (Delhi Belly and Force 2 fame), Blackmail starring Irrfan Khan in the lead role is a black-comedy and revolves around the elements of revenge, deceit, and trickery. The film also co-stars Kirti Kulhari, Divya Dutta, Arunoday Singh and Omi Vaidya as the supporting cast and is jointly produced by T-Series Films and RDP Motion Pictures.

The film takes us through the life of Dev (Irrfan Khan), a typical middle-class citizen who is in a depressed state with his failing marriage, monotonous job and increasing money problems. Amid all the troubles that he’s already facing, he finds out that his wife Reena (Kirti Kulhari) is having an extramarital affair which motivates him to take misconstrued steps which primarily involves blackmailing.

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First up, have to appreciate director Abhinay Deo for taking the risk and doing a black-comedy which are rare to find in Bollywood these days. Similar to Delhi Belly, Blackmail also impresses with its clever and unorthodox humor. I found myself laughing throughout the entire movie and I can’t remember the last time I chuckled soo hard sitting in a theater. So, the film delivers from a comedic standpoint and justifies the black-comedy genre. But!

Here’s the problem, this movie is 140 minutes long and that’s a long stretch. Assembled around a tight and an interesting concept, I expected the screenplay to be swift and well-paced, but, unfortunately, the movie falls apart at times and dwindles down after the second half. Few unnecessary sub-plots would’ve easily been minced which in-turn could’ve helped the narrative, but that didn’t happen.

The performances from the complete cast were decent. As always, Irrfan Khan impresses with his character work, he had nothing new to explore cause I felt that this character is not tailored especially for him as its accessible to anybody. Also, a special shout out to Omi Vaidya who was hilarious and is a great addition to the film.

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Nevertheless, This film had an interesting concept and was extremely funny to watch. Despite having few ups and downs with the screenplay, pace, and runtime, Blackmail impresses as a black-comedy and is totally worth spending money on it.

Rating – 3/5 | Grade – B