I had heard so much about this movie for the last 5-6 years that I thought this would be a letdown. Usually over-hyped movies are such that you feel that you were letdown by it. I finally got hold of it and I can say that Paanch is arguably one of the best crime thrillers the Hindi film industry has produced.
I cannot fathom the reason why the government would ban this, (probably because this movie would attain cult status and dissuade the youth of today to smoke and drink and waste their time....) but in this movie we have one of the greatest acting performance by an actor, one of the best soundtracks ever made in the history of Bollywood, and one helluva movie. The movie theme will remind you of Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting, only Paanch has a thriller plot apart from based on the systematic destruction of human morals.
The plot is fairly simple. Its about 5 people who are struggling musicians. They play at nightclubs and concerts for cheap cash, but most of it is spent on marijuana, drugs and booze. They are all college dropouts and have almost no connections with their relatives. They live under one roof, practice in a vacant garage of one of their friends(their only friend!!).
The movie continues at leisurely pace until they have an idea to kidnap their friend and ask for a fat ransom from his rich dad. But all goes haywire when one of them in a fit of rage kills their friend. Things turn for the worse when to cover up one murder they go on a killing spree. In the end, all five of them are behind bars, and in a gradual degradation of all morals.
This movie, if and when it comes out will primarily be remembered for the immensely powerful acting performance of one Kay Kay Menon. His performance is bound to remind you of Brad Pitt in Fight Club as the legendary Tyler Dyrden. K.K's music will make you take a jacket and go out to the nearest music store and buy the Original Soundtrack of this movie ASAP!! Paanch is the movie where one can say Bollywood came of age and we had proper rock music.
There are only three songs in the movie, one a bluesy track "Kya din kya raat" one that will remind you of the classic jazz of the 40's, the psychedelic themed "Tu Jaa Maat" meant to remind you Cobain and the rock track "Khuda ke Liye" which will remind you of "Rock On!!" only it was 5 years earlier.. Even The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" was an awesome addition!!!
The acting performances have been superb. Kay Kay Menon was brilliant as "Luke" as I mentioned earlier, and he has been brilliantly supported by the very impressive Aditya Srivastava as "Murgi", Joy Fernandes as "Joy" and Vijay Maurya as the hilarious "Pondy" Even Tejaswini Kolhapure as "Shiuli" the only chick in the movie does a decent job. Sharat Saxena is also impressive in his short role as the Police Inspector.
Lastly, Mr.Anurag Kashyap!!! This was his very first attempt behind the camera. It was his brainchild. He being the producer and writer as well. But kudos to the man, for giving us yet another cinematic pleasure. Thank you sir, and I hope you make more of similar movies and keep us people who are fans of non-mainstream movies satisfied.
A truly well deserved 10/10 !!!
