Freddy Movie Review: From ‘Pyaar Ka
Punchnama’ To ‘Nafrat Ka Punchnama’,
Kartik Aaryan Masters The Art Of Balancing
Being An Actor & A Star!
The tension of Freddy owing to a mental trauma required a seasonal & Kartik
Aaryan has been turning into one from this
Star Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Alaya F, Sajjad Delafrooz
Director: Shashanka Ghosh
What’s Good: Kartik Aaryan’s transformation as he balances mass & class!
What’s Bad: A flawed build-up during the second act of the film
Loo Break: It’s just 2 hours, sit back & finish it at once
Watch or Not?: If you love slow-burning thrillers, you’ll appreciate at least Kartik if not the film
Available on: Theatrical Release
Runtime: 124 Minutes
User Rating:
Freddy (Kartik Aaryan) is a loner who lacks confidence even while having normal conversations with girls. In his ‘poptlal’ phase of life, he’s looking for a suitable girl on a matrimonial site MeriShaadi.com (of course!). In this tale of an underconfident introvert finding his soulmate in a spiteful world, Freddy falls in love at first sight which usually isn’t a good sight for a personality like him.
And you know, when someone like Freddy falls in love, it’s “main tere liye jaan de bhi sakta & main tere liye jaan le bhi sakta” kinda love. A similar thing happens to this poor Parsi dikra when he starts to fall for Kainaaz Irani (Alaya F), a married lady whose husband hams in his act as much as he physically abuses her. In the quest to save Kainaaz from her husband, Freddy faces lots of ups & downs to become the man he himself has run from throughout his life.
Freddy Movie Review: Script Analysis
Parveez Sheikh decides to keep things extremely gloomy through his story & screenplay but that doesn’t always go in the favour of the narrative. As beautifully eerie as the first half gets with its build-up, the second half finds itself in a bit of turmoil making things go haywire at times.
It is the bold decisions taken by Ayananka Bose behind the camera that maintains the gripping nature throughout the film. Despite some unintentional humour in the second half, it’s the nature of its storytelling & an extremely strong performance that will hold you back.
Freddy Movie Review: Star Performance
Kartik Aaryan has always been receiving the flak for getting monotonous with his performances but if you see on a broader scale, he has been doing films like Akash Vaani, Dhamaka & now Freddy to balance the perception. The tension of Freddy owing to a mental trauma required a seasonal actor to portray such emotions & Kartik has been turning into one from this.
Alaya F is a mixed bag! Her character starts by building so much curiosity around her brilliantly emoted by Alaya but slips during the second half because of the weak writing. Despite the flaws, she maintains the poise & quirk alive till the last scene. Sajjad Delafrooz is the reason for all the unintentional humour in the second half & you won’t recognize he’s the same actor from Tiger Zinda Hai until someone tells you that.
Freddy Movie Review: Direction, Music
From the dramedy Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part 2 to a hilarious Quick Gun Murugan and whatever Veere Di Wedding was, Shashanka Ghosh, is still to give that one project which will help him cement his identity as a director in this industry. He starts this extremely well & ends it on a surprising note as well, but the film’s act 2 is where he falls weak losing a golden opportunity to deliver a gory thriller. Full marks for a brilliant attempt tho!
Pritam’s soundtrack has 2 songs in it & the film could’ve worked the same way without them as well. Individually, Tum Jo Milo is a beautiful song & is definitely going to my playlist. The background score majorly consists of a mishmash of violin, piano & guitar to maintain the melancholic tone of the film. Gels well with the narrative.
Freddy Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, I would’ve given this a simple three stars if not for Kartik Aaryan, this man is mastering the art of balancing class & mass which ensures Bollywood is in safe hands.
Three and a half stars!
Freddy Trailer
Freddy releases on 02 December, 2022.