K’Scope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Vishalraj Films And Production Pvt. Ltd.’s Vodka Diaries (UA) is a suspense thriller.
ACP Ashwini Dixit (Kay Kay Menon) is neck-deep in trying to solve the cases of mysterious murders in a single night in a club, Vodka Diaries. Some time after his investigation begins, he is shocked to see the three dead persons alive. He is also clueless about where his wife, Shikha Dixit (Mandira Bedi), has disappeared suddenly. Roshni Banerjee (Raima Sen) offers to help him but can she? How is it that the three dead persons come alive? Who is Roshni Banerjee? Where is Shikha Dixit?
Vaibhav Bajpai has written quite an engaging story with interesting twists and turns. The twist about the dead persons coming alive has shock value. Likewise, the last couple of reels, in which the suspense is revealed, are very engaging. Kushal Srivastava and Vaibhav Bajpai’s screenplay may not be excellent but it does manage to keep the audience hooked because it is fairly fast-paced and it also offers quite a lot. Dialogues, penned by Manisha Korde and Kushal Srivastava, are quite nice.
Kay Kay Menon does a remarkable job. He lives the character of ACP Ashwini Dixit and makes the drama believable because of his natural performance. Mandira Bedi looks glamorous and acts with effortless ease in the role of Shikha Dixit. Raima Sen delivers a fine performance as Roshni Banerjee. Sharib Hashmi lends decent support as ACP Ashwini Dixit’s aide, senior police inspector Ankit. Herry Tangiri looks endearing and acts ably as Ronnie Duggal. Rahul Kapoor leaves a mark in the role of Nikhil Bhatia. Rishi Bhutani is fair as Vivek Rajput. Swati Rajput has her moments as Sera, girlfriend of Ronnie. Namya Saxena makes a lovely impression with her realistic performance in the role of Meghna Shastri. Antara Srivastava (as Kavya Saluja) and Vaishnavi Dhanraj (as Ananya) lend decent support. Sooraj Thapar makes his presence amply felt in the role of manager of Vodka Diaries club. Dipoo Srivastava is alright as the assistant of the manager. Vikram Sakhalkar, as Mayukh, looks handsome and acts well. Mohommed Ali Shah (as Sam), Rajat Srivastava (as the streetside book-seller) and the rest provide fair support.
Kushal Srivastava’s direction is good. He has handled the intriguing subject well enough to keep the viewers engaged. Music (by Parvaaz, Harry Anand and Sandesh Shandilya) is more functional than anything else. Lyrics (Harry Anand and Aalok Shrivastav) are appropriate. Sanjoy Chowdhury’s background music is compelling. Maneesh Chandra Bhatt’s cinematography is very good. Narendra Haldankar’s art direction is okay. Aalaap Majgavkar’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Vodka Diaries is a well-made suspense thriller which is quite engaging. But it will not be able to do well enough at the turnstiles because it has not been promoted enough for people to come to the cinemas in reasonably large numbers and also because there is no time for collections to pick up by word of mouth as it has only a six-day window, after which Padmaavat and Pad Man will take over the cinemas.