Right Yaaa Wrong

An adaption of the 1995 Hollywood Film Above Suspicion, 'Right Yaaa Wrong' is A Good Effort by Writer-Director Neeraj Pathak, that despite a slow first-hour, turns into an engrossing thriller in its second-hour. This one's a surprise from 2010!

'Right Yaaa Wrong' Synopsis: A decorated and disabled Police Officer becomes a suspect in a double homicide, after his officer friend has his doubts.

'Right Yaaa Wrong' is initially slow & also dull. The Real Thrills set in its second-hour, when the cat and mouse game begins between its two leading characters. And its interesting to watch the mystery unfold, as the sequences are thoroughly gripping. Even the culmination, is well-done. In short, 'Right Yaaa Wrong' gets it Right in its second-hour!

Pathak's Writing takes time to come to the point, but once it does get there, it arrests your attention well. Pathak's Direction, on the other-hand, could've been better. The narrative has a old school vibe to it, which, certainly, could've been refreshed.

Performance-Wise: Sunny Deol is in fine form. He's restrained here & enacts the man in question, with conviction. Irrfan Khan is the trump-card. The terrific actor is sensational, portraying his part with power. Konkona Sen Sharma is okay, while Eesha Koppikhar is first-rate. Govind Namdeo & Suhasini Mulay are passable.

On the whole, 'Right Yaaa Wrong' is a good watch.

Sunny seems to get it right this time. He underplays his part beautifully. But it is Irrfan who lights fire in water and emerges the scene-stealer. He is excellent all through the second hour. Konkona stages an entry in the post-interval portions and makes a stunning impact in the courtroom sequences. Eesha Koppikhar is first-rate. Arav Chowdharry Sunny's brother enacts his part with conviction. Come to think of it, a plot like RIGHT YAAA WRONG is not easy to pen and narrate. The conflict between two thick friends and how they find themselves on the opposite sides of the law ought to be handled with gloves. Most importantly, when the tension reaches its peak, the culmination has to be razor-sharp and concurrently, justify both the sides' point of view. Fortunately, RIGHT YAAA WRONG hits the right note. On the whole, RIGHT YAAA WRONG is a powerful thriller, with a knockout second half. However, the film faces strong opposition from two quarters .

It has become common knowledge that Pathak's 'Right Ya Wrong' shamelessly rips off 'Above Suspicion'. Thus, the writers do not deserve much credit. Normally I tend t avoid rip-offs, but since it stars Ishaa Koppikar and Konkona Sen Sharma, I made an exception. Considering that this is a Sunny Deol film, one can expect some 'dishum-dishum' (translation: tacky Bollywood fight scenes) but the good thing is that it's toned down and once the movie moves passed that phase, it stays in thriller mode. The execution isn't exactly sophisticated. The writing is quite amateur (even though it's ripped off). Sunny Deol is a little too old for the part but where acting is required, he's surprisingly subtle and pulls it off. Ishaa Koppikar is very convincing as the adulterous housewife. Irfan Khan is passable. In all fairness to him, the characterization was poor. Konkona Sen Sharma is wasted. I wonder what an actress of her calibre saw in such a half-baked role.

To start with, the promotion was pathetic and the promos were bad. The title was never heard of and the lead hero was out of the lime-light. So, it was all dark before "Right Ya Wrong" finally got released this Friday after being in the making for two long years. But, perhaps it was all for the good, as the movie surprisingly proves to be a lot better than what was being expected by the viewers.

With a mild first half and an explosive second hour, the movie has everything ranging from a well planned murder to an absorbing court room drama. At first, it moves quite similar to many seen before routine cop flicks, but soon goes on to unfold new mysteries, plans and high tension drama which keeps you glued to the screen post intermission. So, in short the movie is a well worked upon crime thriller coming out of Bollywood after a long time.

But WAIT! There is a twist here in the proceedings…..But let me first introduce you to a few lines about the main plot of the movie:

"A Cop is paralysed in a shooting and is unable to walk. His misfortune brings him sympathy which he uses to devise a plan to rid himself of his unfaithful wife and her lover."

"But another officer starts suspecting that this well- respected former policeman, paralyzed after a shootout, is planning an untimely demise for his unfaithful wife."

Now what's the twist here? The twist is that the movie which successfully manages to impress with its engrossing second half and well written sequences towards the climax is not based on an Original Storyline. It is completely inspired from a western flick and the above few lines about its main plot prove it all.

Actually, the lines mentioned above are not about the basic storyline of "Right Ya Wrong" but they are in reality taken from the IMDb page of the movie called "ABOVE SUSPICION" (1995) starring Christopher Reeve in the lead.

Chek out at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109034/

The moment I came to know about this acute similarity between the story- plots of these two movies, I felt sad and cheated as I really wanted to praise "Right Ya Wrong" as an Original Work. But Bollywood seems to be still caught in the web of its decades old bad habit of copying and may be that was the reason the movie was given such a low profile and effortless release from its production house.

Frankly speaking, writing a detailed review of a movie which is nothing but a copy of someone else's hard work is quite a complicated job for me. In fact, how can one comment on the script and sequences of a movie, which are entirely borrowed from another crime drama of the past and have no original contributions coming from its writer & director. As a matter of fact, one can only write about the technical achievements of such projects since rest all (the script, the scenes and the story) is nothing but copied in the first place.

So technically, "Right Ya Wrong" is a fine crime thriller which captivates the viewer, especially post intermission. It has a well directed climax in the form of an enthralling court room drama with many exciting moments to enjoy. Though the movie is not perfect and has its own flaws at certain places, but still it's surely much better than many recent crime thrillers presented before us.

Performance wise, Irrfan Khan is at his best as the honest cop and scores above all in the cast. He simply sets the screen on fire with his unique style of dialogue delivery and facial expressions. Sunny Deol is cool & calm in his role of a crime master and looks fresh on screen after a long gap. Both Konkona and Eesha excel in their limited scenes. Arav Chowdhary as Sunny's brother plays his part with confidence and the child playing Sunny's son leaves an impact. Deepal Shaw has nothing much to do in her cameo. Thankfully the movie has only one song in its narration and that's too a routine one. But Background score and Camera-work keep giving you the feeling of an outdated project at regular intervals.

In short, Director Neerraj Pathak, delivers a sharp crime thriller with a wisely chosen cast. His skillful direction shines on the screen post intermission and in the climax. But unfortunately, instead of working on an original idea, he chose the easy but unethical way of copying a western flick, which works against all the merits of his otherwise thoughtfully titled movie "Right Ya Wrong". Hope he comes up with an original piece of work next time?

(Watch it if you like gripping crime dramas and simply don't care whether it's copied stuff or not!)

What worked: It's a well balanced Bollywood movie that was a satisfying and unique story. It came during the times in Bollywood where almost majority of the movie were a copy of the international or national market. It's one of them, but Irrfan stole the show. It's a fine movie with a moral and legal dilemma, and taking sides is not advised but leaves you with a question at least of what happened and how it should be processed. The movie is thrilling, engaging and ends with a satisfying ending though questionable. What did not work:

• loopholes and flaws: the movie definitely did not answer all the puzzles and there were questions that needed answering. Overall, we can just let go of those flaws and enjoy the movie.

Final verdict: recommended, at least for the time it was made