Mystery or crime thriller is one of the favorite genres of film makers. In perticular psycho thrillers attract directors more. A bestseller on such a plot can hardly remain ignored by filmmakers.
‘The girl on the train’ (2015) by Paula Hawkins was one such bestseller that saw immense popularity. In 2016, with Tate Taylor as director an English movie with the same name was released. British actor Emily Blunt was in main role that was widely acclaimed at that time. She had won many awards and accolades for the role.
Now a Hindi avatar of the same plot with the same name is out. Parineeti Chopra is in main role in this Hindi version. This 2021 movie is directed by Ribhu Dasgupta. If you do not recall who Ribhu Dasgupta is, may I draw your attention to one Amitabh Bachchan starrer of 2016 titled ‘teen’ ? Nawajuddin Siddiqui had a role in that movie with the Big B. That movie was directed by Ribhu Dasgupta.
One of the production houses involved with Emily Blunt’s English flick was Reliance Entertainment. They have produced 2021 Hindi movie that was released on Netflix platform.
The plot goes somewhat like this: Meera Kapoor (Parineeti Chopra) is a London based lawyer married to Shekhar (Avinash Tiwari). In a car accident, pregnant Meera looses hopes of that child. Later she drifts away emotionally from her partner and starts boozing too much, affecting her career adversely. She faces some psychological issues where she keeps forgetting. On her daily commute, she keeps seeing a girl with her parter. On one day she sees the same girl with another man and gets suspicious. Thinking the girl cheats her partner, Meera follows her. Only thing she remembers later is she slaps the girl after chasing her a while. What happents after that moment is worth watching on the screen.
Yes, worth watching is what I recommend for ‘The girl on the train’ (2021). This is about two hours long film. After a slow start this train picks up speed. With a bestseller and a successful movie at the background, much was expected from this movie. Comparison becomes inevitable in such a situation. Those who have watched English movie or had read novel may see Parineeti’s role differently. I haven’t watched 2016 movie so it is not possible for me to tell. Yet one thing I can tell : for those who have not the bestseller or the 2016 movie may find this movie, and experience worth having. The story has enough glue to make one stick to the screen. This is indeed one of the best roles yet by Parineeti. Kirti Kulhari and Aditi Rao Hydari have remarkable roles here. Avinash Tiwari as Shekhar fits in his role well.
Camera angles and Background music play very crucial roles in any mystery drama. Here, both these crafts add well to the movie. Background songs add little value tp such plots. At times they resist flow of the story and best if avoided sometimes.
Overall,’ the girl on the train’ (2016) is a movie experience worth taking.