Shanker Raman, the National Aaward-winning writer-cinematographer of films like Harud (2012) and Frozen (2007) makes his debut as director with drama, Gurgaon. The film's trailer was released today, and carries signs of a dark, noirish thriller that might be a critic favourite.
The trailer opens with the sight of a young man carrying in an unconscious girl, only to find her still alive and kicking. This turns out to be the first part of the kidnap drama of the daughter of a real estate tycoon Khairi Singh (Pankaj Tripathi). The mystery deepens with two different demands for ransom. The film peers behind the curtain of the fast developing township of Gurgaon, near Delhi, showing the rampant violence and fear that pervades behind the curtain.
Raman's film won the DI Prasad award for Best Work In Progress Project (Fiction) at this year's NFDC Bazaar. With a cast of talented actors, led by Tripathi in fine form, the trailer looks promising.
Tripathi steals the scene with his casual demeanour, which reflects the confidence of a man who knows what his violent strength can achieve. Ragini Khanna plays the lucky charm of the real estate tycoon who ends up being kidnapped, while Akshay Oberoi plays the son whose character seems to be hiding more than he reveals. The sequence of Oberoi's character standing in front of an empty graveyard like ground near the end of the trailer deepens the mystery further.
The trailer carries the ethos of the gritty, realistic fashion that stands true to the storyline. The film is produced by JAR Productions, which also produced Killa (2015), Nil Battey Sannata (2016) and the unreleased, but critically acclaimed, Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer, Liar's Dice (2014).
Gurgaon will be released on 4 August.