Sohum Shah Films’ Crazxy (UA) is a thriller. A middle-aged doctor has botched up a surgery leading to the death of the patient. Rather than risk a possible jail term if he fights the case in court, he opts for an out-of-court settlement with the family of the deceased patient. He is on his way to hand over Rs. 5 crore as settlement money when he receives a phone call on his cell phone from an unknown number, informing him that the caller has kidnapped his estranged teenage daughter. The caller wants Rs. 5 crore as ransom money, that too, within a few hours. Although he had divorced his wife, probably because he was upset with the fact that the daughter suffered from Down syndrome, he is keen to rescue the daughter from the abductor. He already has the Rs. 5 crore with him and so he decides to ditch the family of the deceased patient and instead heads to the destination where he has to hand over the money to the kidnapper and save his daughter.
On the way, he gets calls from different people — his ex-wife and the mother of their kidnapped daughter; his current beloved; the senior doctor who had aided in the out-of-court settlement; and the kidnapper. Even as he is racing against time to save his daughter, the hospital in which he used to work and from where he has just been fired (when he tells the senior doctor that he is handing over the Rs. 5 crore he has, to save the life of his daughter instead of giving the same to the family of the deceased) summons him for an emergency surgery. Since he can’t reach the hospital, he supervises the surgery via a video call with the assistant surgeon. The doctor doesn’t lose his cool even as he navigates through phone calls with the unknown caller (kidnapper), senior doctor, junior surgeon, ex-wife, current girlfriend, etc. — and all this, with time being of essence! At times, things get very critical as it is the question of not just his daughter’s life but also the life of the patient being operated upon by the junior surgeon.
Girish Kohli has written a very unusual story about the calamities which befall one person around the same time. Although there are multiple tracks in the story, they run concurrently because the drama in each of the tracks happens around the same time. Besides, time is of essence in each of the tracks. His screenplay is fast-paced and keeps the audience engrossed throughout because the different tracks are so intertwined and so exciting that it is difficult for a viewer to remain disconnected from the unfolding drama. Yes, the traditional viewers will miss the absence of multiple characters on the screen, but that is because they are used to character-driven plots and not because the screenplay is boring. In fact, the screenplay never once gets boring. The climax should’ve definitely been more fulfilling. Girish Kohli’s dialogues are so-so.
Sohum Shah acts ably and plays Dr. Abhimanyu Sood in a natural style. He neither overacts nor underplays the character, because of which it becomes relatable. Unnati Surana is nice as Dr. Sood’s daughter, Vedika. Tinnu Anand performs (voice acting) well as the kidnapper. Nimisha Sajayan (voice acting) is effective as the ex-wife. Shilpa Shukla (voice acting) makes her presence amply felt as Dr. Sood’s current beloved, Jaan. Piyush Mishra (voice acting) performs ably as Dr. Sood’s senior, White Coat. Raja Sevak (as Black Coat), Amar Choudhary (as the police inspector), Dr. Rutuj Mali (as the junior surgeon), Parineeta Chatterjee (as Sister Fatima), Akash Andaaz (as the constable), Tanya Yadav (as the Insta Finance employee), Rinki (as anaesthetist Dr. Lamba), and Aaradhya (as young Vedika) lend decent support.
Girish Kohli’s direction is excellent. His narration is such that the absence of multiple characters on the screen is simply not felt. Normally, one would expect that watching a single person on the screen all through the drama would make the proceedings boring, but that doesn’t happen here. Music (Vishal Bhardwaj; guest composers Laxmikant Pyarelal, Harshavardhan Rameshwar, Manan Bhardwaj, Yeahproof, Osho Jain and The Red Kettle) is appealing. Lyrics (Gulzar; guest lyricists Anand Bakshi, Vayu, Manan Bhardwaj, Ashim Kemson and Osho Jain) are nice. Jesper Kyd’s background music is fantastic. Cinematography (by Sunil Ramkrishna Borkar and Kuldeep Mamania) is very good. Vicky Arora’s action and stunt scenes are realistic and serve to enhance the excitement and thrill elements, so necessary in a drama of this kind. Sheetal Duggal and Amit Waghchaure’s production designing is of a fine standard. Sanyukta Kaza and Rythem Lath’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Crazxy is definitely a well-made film but getting the audience in to the cinemas without any face value, that too, for a film in which there’s just one person on the screen, is a challenge which may be difficult to overcome.
Released on 28-2-’25 at Inox (daily 4 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: so-so. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull almost everywhere.
