Choked Movie Review: Anurag Kashyap's attempt to unclog life after demonetisation is hard hitting but it drags

Movie Name: Choked

Choked Cast: Saiyami Kher, Roshan Mathew, Amruta Subhash, Rajshri Deshpande

Choked Director: Anurag Kashyap

Choked Rating: 3 stars

The clock strikes 3. You hear a growl in the kitchen. You wake up to find bundles of notes rolled up coughing out of the kitchen pipeline. Wouldn't you let greed take over and take those bundles for your own good? Anurag Kashyap's Choked - Paisa Bolta Hai works on the same premise. Set in the pre-demonetisation 2016, Sarita (played by Saiyami Kher) is a bank employee who is making ends meet while her husband Sushant (played by Roshan Mathew) sits idle at home after numerous failed jobs. Surrounded by nosey neighbours, Sarita tries to balance work and her private affairs without seeking much help. 

On one particular night, after she fights with Sushant over the clogged sink, she wakes up to the sink growling. Curious, she unlids the pipeline underneath the sink to find the stashes of money coughing out of the pipe. The film establishes that a suspicious man living above Sarita and Sushant's house was hiding black money in the pipeline connecting the couple's kitchen. A presumed malfunction leads to the money floods in Sarita's kitchen. After she verifies the notes, she clears a part of Sushant's dues and starts to plan her future with the remaining money. 

But Narendra Modi throws her dream down the drain by announcing the demonetisation. What happens with the remaining bundle? Does Sarita's dream of a better life come to a standstill? Does the drain stop coughing out money? Will someone find out about her dirty treasure? You'll have to watch the movie and find out the semi-fictional repercussion demonetisation had on the common man. 

With the screenplay written by Nihit Bhave, Choked serves as an interesting case study of how a fictional tale set against the political climate should be written. While there are subtle shades of bias in the storyline and a couple of call-outs at the Prime Minister, Choked is well-written. The script blends in the right amount of emotions, trauma and even adds a juicy layer of suspense to make it a delicious serve. With sprinkles of one-liners at the political climate, the depiction of a Modi bhakt, and subtle shades at WhatsApp news, the film leaves you introspecting and chuckling all at the same time. 

The characters are well layered. Sarita struggles not only with her personal life problems but also battles the trauma left behind after she choked on the stage of a singing competition. The trauma revisits her on several occasions, reminding her of her failures but that doesn't pull her down. Saiyami made the role her own and delivers a powerful performance. It is a treat to watch her in the movie. 

ALSO READ: Choked Twitter Reaction: Anurag Kashyap's demonetisation drama opens to mix response from netizens

Roshan enhances her performance without stealing her spotlight. The actor has delivered numerous powerful performances in the South. Watching him play the insecure Sushant, battling his own problems, yet loving his wife in his own ways is hard to miss. What I enjoyed the most, while it doesn't necessarily enhance the storytelling, is the fact that Anurag intertwined Roshan's knowledge of the Tamil language. 

The script doesn't particularly need his character to speak a particular dialect. Since Anurag roped in a South Indian actor, it was interesting to see the director give the actor a platform to show his shades from time to time. While the two leading stars were a treat, Amruta Subhash stole the show every time she was in the frame. The actress, who plays the harmless neighbour, is brilliant in every scene. A special mention to the child artist, Parth Veer Shukla, who plays the dysfunctional parents' son. He is an entertainer. 

Having said that, the movie feels longer than it should. Although the night-after-night cycle of collecting the money was needed to establish the story, it was dragged a little too far, thus losing your interest in the film. The film tries and almost succeeds at giving a couple of edge-of-the-seat moments -- there was one where I had to pause the movie for it made me claustrophobic - but the dull moments in the movie overpower the highs. 

There were a few unignorable plotholes. For instance, the stash of notes washes down the pipeline and into Sarita's kitchen. Given that the mysterious man was stashing them in a grilled containing, how were the stashes escaping? And if they were escaping night after night, wasn't the depositor concerned about the missing cash? Regardless of it being black money, greed always leaves people concerned, right? With Sushant discovering a bundle as well, didn't greed take over his mind as well? When did he discover the cash? The film feels a tad incomplete towards the end.

Bottom Line: Choked is well-written backed with good performances. However, the film gets monotonous so prepare yourself for that. 

Watch the Choked movie trailer here: