EBiz India’s Tony (A) is a crime thriller. Four college students — Ashish Patil (Mahesh Jilowa), Martin Wilson (Dhruv Souran), Kartik Patel (Kabeer Chilwal) and Kamya Malhotra (Jhinal Belani) — embark on a mission to understand the psychology of a serial killer, Tony (Yashodhan Rana). They videotape his confession to a priest in the church and then try to understand why he kills people.
In the process, all four of them get sucked into the world of crime. As bad luck would have it, Ashish Patil is arrested by two corrupt police officers — sub-inspector Vilas Mote (Manoj Chandila) and inspector Sameer Dighe (Akshay Verma). It’s sheer bad luck for Ashish Patil because he claims to have been a part of the group because of pressure from the others.
Investigations lead to more arrests. What happens thereafter? Is Ashish Patil guilty or innocent? Why does Tony kill people? What about Martin Wilson, Kartik Patel and Kamya Malhotra? Are they innocent or guilty?
Vipul K. Rawal has written a story and screenplay which are childish instead of being chilling. The reason why Martin and his group videotape a serial killer’s confession in the church and also why they make him and only him as the subject of their study is given but it is not at all convincing. Further, Martin, Kartik and Kamya talk about murdering people as if they were talking about making tons of money. Only mentally sick people can enjoy watching murders and killing people and then talking about how powerful they feel. But while Martin, Kartik and Kamya are not mentally sick, they are shown to be thrilled about watching murders and also about killing people themselves. Why Ashish Patil can’t seek help from the police or even from the person who runs the orphanage where he stays is not explained. The casual way in which murders are spoken about, it would almost appear as if it’s quite routine stuff — as routine as having lunch or dinner! Even the families of the murderers are shown to be pretty calm and composed. This gives the audience the feeling that almost all the characters in the film belong to a different planet. In short, everything appears weird and crazy although only one person, Tony, is supposed to be crazy. The scene in which the parents of the arrested friends meet police inspector Sameer Dighe to bribe him is written like they were meeting over drinks. Nothing, repeat, nothing in the script is able to convey the seriousness of the crimes being committed. The investigation by the two police officers is kiddish — and that’s putting it mildly. All in all, the script is so poor that it irritates the viewers and makes them often stare at the screen in disbelief. Even Vipul K. Rawal’s dialogues are dull.
Mahesh Jilowa is weak in the role of Ashish Patil. Yashodhan Rana is alright as Tony. Manoj Chandila does an average job as sub-inspector Vilas Mote. Akshay Verma is quite okay as inspector Sameer Dighe. Dhruv Souran hardly impresses as Martin Wilson. Kabeer Chilwal is very ordinary as Kartik Patel. Jhinal Belani does a dull job as Kamya Malhotra. Smita Roy (as Catherine), Aparna Mendez (as Maria), Priti Srivastav (as Kartik’s mother), Arun Kumar Pandey (as Martin’s father, Lawrence Wilson), Yashraaj Barman (as Kamya’s father), Shaheen Desai (as the college professor), Ratan Lal (as head constable Sajjad Sheikh), Mahesh Kapoor (as Father Thomas), Bakul Patel (as the fake Waghmare), Gauri Shankar (as Sunil Waghmare), Shrikant Acharya (as the man strangled by Tony), Nitin Goswami (as brother Chandy), Ashwin Patel (as the man stabbed in the park), Milind Tipnis (as Kartik’s grandfather), Mrs. Tipnis (as Kartik’s grandmother), Pankit Gajjar (as the man strangled by Martin), Bindu Gajjar (as the lady strangled by Martin), Kalpana Gajjar (as the woman shot in the car parking area, by Tony), Veena Asher (as Kamya’s mother), and the others lend weak support.
Vipul K. Rawal’s direction is poor. Jyoti Prasad Das’ background music is not half as effective as it should’ve been. Mohit Kakodkar’s camerawork is ordinary. Abdul Aziz’s action and stunts lack thrill. Art direction (Sunil Jain and Dinesh Shetty) is ordinary. Ajoy Varma’s editing leaves a lot to be desired.
On the whole, Tony will fail miserably at the box-office.
Released on 29-11-’19 at Gem (daily 1 show) of Bombay thru Ravi Enterprises. Publicity: poor. Opening: very dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was miserable everywhere.