Red Swastik Review {1.5/5} & Review Rating
Worldwide over, sex and thrills are a lethal combo. Vinod Pande's RED SWASTIK is about a woman who seeks revenge. She had been raped, her fiance had deserted her, her kid had died in an accident... On paper, the theme sounds interesting. But, on celluloid, it's a script of convenience.
Pande has chosen interesting stories in the past [EK BAAR PHIR, YEH NAZDEEKIYAN] and to be fair, he has handled a few scenes well [especially the erotic ones] in his new outing, but the emphasis here is more on titillation rather than narrating an absorbing tale.
The film begins with a murder. A corporate honcho is murdered by a sexy siren [Menaka/Sherlyn Chopra] after they've made love. She draws a Swastik on his forehead with his blood.
More murders take place. The police [Harsh Chhaya] is completely clueless. The murderer keeps in touch with the Editor of a woman's magazine [Deepshikha] since she wants her story to be printed. The truth behind her behavior is only revealed in the end.
The brutal murder at the very start sets the pace. You are hooked. The murderer behaves rather mysteriously and that only makes the goings-on fascinating. But the post-interval portions are a terrible letdown, thanks to inept writing [screenplay: Vinod Pande, Preeti Koppikar, Prerna Agarwal].
One of the cops [Deep Raj Rana] gets to know the murderer's identity [he spends some tender moments with her], but he too is murdered. That's when the writing falls to its lowest level. The cop had informed his seniors, yet they don't close in on the murderer. She suddenly becomes a nurse and her story is revealed by a journo who has been entrusted the job of unearthing her mysterious past. The climax is equally bizarre. What was that?
The only thing that goes in its favor is, expectedly, the 'hot' scenes that the masses may take a fancy for. The leading lady has exposed her anatomy all through and the erotic scenes will catch the eye of a section of moviegoers. The two songs [music: Shamir Tandon] are okay. Cinematography [Rakesh Kumar] is passable.
Menaka/Sherlyn Chopra does well in certain scenes. Also, she has a great body and she flaunts it without inhibitions. Deep Raj Rana is highly competent. Ditto for Harsh Chhaya, who enacts his part well. Deepshikha is alright.
On the whole, RED SWASTIK is an ordinary fare with good doses of sex and titillation as its saviors. A film for smaller centres basically.
