One can’t deny the fact that White Feather Films (WFF), Sanjay Gupta’s production house, has churned one of the best dark thrillers in the past. In fact, every film of WFF right from Kaante to the recent Woodstock Villa has been very dark but still managed to impress audiences. Their new flick, Acid Factory, too follows the WWF tradition! It’s dark, it has black humour and most importantly, it has surprises. However, the second hour spoils the show. More details later!
The story of the movie: A guy somewhere in his mid-20s (Fardeen Khan) wakes up and finds himself trapped in a dilapidated factory. He has no memory as to how he got there inside. He doesn’t even remember his own name! A phone rings somewhere and he picks up. The caller (Irrfan Khan) seemed like a boss, who gives some orders. Later, the man discovers four more people in the factory (Aftab Shivdasani, Manoj Bajpayee, Dino Morea and Danny Denzongpa) and they all are in a similar state of mind. One of them is tied to a chair and one is handcuffed. All doors are locked and the windows had iron grills and so there was no chance of escaping. Also, the factory was located at a remote place so there was no possibility of even shouting and getting attention of someone from outside. The guys later discover that it is an acid factory and that some of them were criminals. To find out as to how they lose their memory and what happen next, watch the film.
Acid Factory’s first hour is power-packed. The film holds your attention wonderfully right from the first scene. The characters in the factory waking up, bewildered, one by one and their talking, shouting and cracking jokes with one another sets the mood. Two more tracks run simultaneously-one, the flashback portions of Fardeen and the other, the kidnapping heist. Yet, the film doesn’t turn confusing and for this, full marks should be given to director Suparn Verma.
The characters later learn that two of them are kidnapped. But again, with no memory, they have no idea as to who are the kidnappers and who are the hostages! This really makes the situation weird but interesting!
But things slid down in the 2nd half. They should have been more thrilling moments and drama but instead, a lot of action scenes are thrown in. No doubt that it was a treat watching those scenes but after a point of time, it became too much. Also, the climax wasn’t impressive, although it was engrossing. And the glaring flaws at this point are shocking. But due to a bad 2nd half, one gets out of the theatre disappointed. If the film had an equally powerful 2nd half, Acid Factory would have been a coming of the age film.
Every actor was perfect. Fardeen Khan had more screen presence than the rest and like everytime, he gave a fantastic performance. He still has two films this year (Dulha Mil Gaya and All The Best). Let’s hope he gets appreciation which he rightfully deserves. Aftab Shivdasani rocks as the angry young man. Dino Morea surprises with a brilliant performance. Manoj Bajpayee acts well and succeeds in making the viewers laugh.
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Danny Denzongpa, like everytime, was flawless. Irrfan Khan impresses. A lot of hype was created about Dia Mirza’s presence in the film as she’s the only female actor in the main cast. However, she enters only in the second hour and didn’t have much to do. But she performs well, though. Gulshan Grover and Neha were alright.
The film has couple of songs (including an item number) which wasn’t needed at all. The song ‘Ye Jism Hai’ looked totally out of place in the film. Sahil Kapoor’s cinematography was topnotch. Actor Saurabh Shukla and Sanjay Gupta have written the dialogues which were excellent. Tinu Verma’s action was top-class and kudos to him and his team! Hemal Kothari’s editing was slick. Milind Gadagkar’s story was great but he can’t be given the credit as the film seems inspired from the Hollywood flick, Unknown.
Suparn Verma and Sanjay Gupta’s screenplay was outstanding in the beginning portions but deteriorated in the 2nd hour, esp towards the climax. Suparn Verma, overall, impresses a lot as the director. This film will be a commercial flop but Suparn’s efforts will surely be noticed and would be appreciated for sure.
On the whole, Acid Factory is a fast, intriguing film that falls in the 2nd half. The film was badly promoted and that’s why it failed to have a good opening. With three BIG releases next Friday, Acid Factory will vanish from the theatres for sure. But all those interested, it would be no harm catching this 120 minute dark thriller on VCD/DVD later!
This review first appeared on MouthShut.com: https://www.mouthshut.com/review/Acid_Factory-177028-1.html