Roy Review

Roy is a difficult film to judge. We all have seen the trailers being filled with Ranbir Kapoor’s screen presence but then media has been constantly reporting that he has a minor role in the film. And it is because he has a guest appearance in the film, we can’t help but feel less excited about it. If it was his film through and through, we’d all be hooked and booked. But unfortunately, inspite of the music being a big hit, Roy just doesn’t have too much buzz going on about it. The trailers have been decent but not earth-shattering. So does Roy exceed all our expectations?

Story: Kabir Grewal (Arjun Rampal) is a film director who has a casanova image and has apparently slept with 22 girls so far according to entertainment journalists. He goes to Malaysia in search of his next story and chances upon another director called Ayesha (Jacqueline 1) and soon through their conversations they start falling in love. There’s another parallel track going on of Roy (Ranbir) who is also the lead character in Kabir’s story. Roy is a strange mysterious character who doesn’t reveal the cards close to his chest. Roy is slowly falling in love with Tia (Jacqueline 2) in Kabir’s story. Things get convoluted when Roy and Kabir converge into one.

Director Vikramjit Singh has clearly tried to copy the look of a stylish Hollywood thriller in his debut feature Roy with the story of a normal noir classic English thriller. But the problem is, Vikramjit has the germ of a very interesting idea but his skills as director Vikramjit is not able to matchup to the vision of the writer Vikramjit. Roy therefore turns out to be a very confused film for the viewer. It looks and feels stylish because of the way Vikramjit has shot it but it counts for nothing if the story isn’t fulfilling enough. It would have made a lot of sense if Vikramjit had written a book rather than make a film with this story of his.

Roy, somehow becomes palatable overcoming the vast boring portions and the confused plot because of the slick treatment of its cinematography. Roy feels huge because of the grandeur of the scale of sets and camerwork is also excellent. The costume design is stylish. The editing should have been crisper as Roy gets into the boring zone a bit too many times because of the 2.5 hours plus length.

The music of Roy is another redeeming part of the film. It has already become a huge hit and the songs do actually stay with you. Sooraj Dooba Hain is hummable and you feel like getting up and hitting the dance floor. Ankit Tiwari continues his good form with the melodious and moody Tu Hai Ke Nahi. Chittiyan Kalaiyaan is very energetic and the tempo of the song is high. The background score is also pretty decent.

Acting: Ranbir Kapoor is the headliner of the film even though he has a sizeably less screen time than Arjun Rampal. Unfortunately, Ranbir tries too hard to be dark and mysterious, and ends up having one expression throughout the film no matter what situation. He’s off form. And so are the main two leads – Arjun Rampal and Jacqueline. Arjun tries his best to act like a suave in-demand director who has chicks falling for his charm every 20 minutes, but alas he’s not Milind Soman. Jacqueline has two roles in the film and she gives a lesson in acting two different characters the exact same way. If not for the different makeup and costume design for both the characters, we wouldn’t know that she was playing two characters.

Conclusion: Roy has a good premise, a good idea, a good vision but the director is not able to live up to his own vision as a director. Roy is too intelligent for itself and ends up being a boring, confused film with a convoluted plot that is neither a good thriller nor a good love story. You can watch the film for the music videos and the gorgeous cinematography because otherwise it is too much of a slog to survive the duration of the film.

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Also Read: Roy Critics Reviews