Released this week in Delhi-U.P., East Punjab, Assam, C.P. Berar and C.I., Avanti Prajakta Arts’ Fire Of Love – Red (UA) is a thriller.
Rajveer (Krushna Abhishek) is a super-successful novelist. He is a recluse and leads an intensely private life. He gives two persons — Jaggu (Abhijit Shwetchandra) and Rani (Kanchan Bhor) — shelter in his farm house. Jaggu is a murderer who has been seriously injured and, therefore, needs medical help. Dr. Chaturvedi (Bharat Dabholkar) attends to Jaggu.
One day, Rajveer tells Rani about his wife, Poonam (Payal Ghosh), who has committed suicide. But the fact is that Poonam had deserted Rajveer when he was a struggling writer. After that, he had started writing novels filled with sex, violence, illicit relationships and crimes, and had become extremely successful. While searching for Poonam, he had discovered that she had become a call girl after leaving him. He had then invited her to his home and murdered her, making it appear like a suicide prompted by the person who had initiated her into the flesh trade. After the murder of Poonam, Rajveer had become a serial killer. He was now plotting the murder of Rani. His partner in crime was Dr. Chaturvedi who used to trade in the organs of the murdered victims.
Is Rajveer ever exposed? Does law catch up with him? What happens to Rani?
Ashok Tyagi has written a story and screenplay, which simply fail to engage the audience. The drama is so insipid that the viewers passively watch it unfolding on the screen. Logic is thrown to the winds so that most of the happenings look contrived and uninteresting. The thrill element is completely missing so that even the ending hardly has the desired impact. In other words, the story and screenplay are terribly weak. Even Ashok Tyagi’s dialogues are dull.
Krushna Abhishek does a very ordinary job as Rajveer. He lacks the charisma of a hero. Payal Ghosh is dull as Poonam. Kanchan Bhor performs routinely in the role of Rani. Abhijit Shwetchandra is so-so as Jaggu. Kamlesh Sawant is nice as the investigating police officer, Chauhan. Bharat Dabholkar fails to impress as Dr. Chaturvedi. Aroon Bakshi (as the book publisher), Shantanu Bhamare (as the jailer), Amol Bawdankar (as Sanjay Jagtap), Mukesh Tyagi (as the police commissioner), Shashi Sharma (as the owner of the house) and Priyanka Tiwari provide routine support.
Ashok Tyagi’s direction lacks fire. Hriju Roy’s music is so-so. Lyrics (Ravi Basnet and Hari Shankar ‘Sufi’) are ordinary. Lollypop’s choreography is functional. Hriju Roy’s background music is not too impactful. Akram Khan’s cinematography is okay. Tara Sharma’s action and stunt scenes are not half as thrilling as they ought to have been. Sunil Singh’s production designing is okay. Irfaan Shaikh’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.
On the whole, Fire Of Love – Red is a non-starter and will go largely unnoticed.
The film will release in Bombay at PVR Citi Mall Andheri (daily 2 shows) tomorrow (6-1-’24) thru Implex Digital.
