One Cut Two Cut
Kannada (Amazon Prime Video)
Director: Vamsidhar Bhogaraju
Cast: Danish Sait, Samyukta Hornad, Prakash Belawadi
Rating: 2.5/5
Danish Sait, the improve master, and Vamsidhar Bhogaraju, a stand-up comedian, are the writers of ‘One Cut Two Cut’. So you get a film filled with hilarious wordplay and occasionally funny sequences. Are they enough to make an engaging film? Not really.
The film, co-produced by the late Puneeth Rajkumar's PRK Productions, has quirky characters and it tries to oscillate between satire and slapstick genres. But it lacks the energy of Danish Sait's previous films such as ‘Humble Politician Nograj’ (2018) and ‘French Biriyani’ (2020).
The story kickstarts when four people, unsatisfied with their lives, come together to create a ‘revolution’ in Bengaluru. They blame the government for their situation and decide to do something drastic to get its attention.
Pruthviraj (Prakash Belawadi) is perennially upset that he was chosen over Amitabh Bachchan by a radio station decades ago. While the latter became a world-famous actor, Pruthviraj is left ruing about ‘what could have been’. So he has posters of Amitabh’s classics such as ‘Don’, ‘Deewar’, and ‘Coolie’ on the walls of his house albeit with a difference: the legendary actor’s face is replaced by his.
The other three are a struggling stand-up comedian Ayan (Vineeth Kumar, co-creator of Jordindian), Neha, a North Indian and a vegan searching for a job, and Gurudev, a former cook in the Indian Army. They hold a government school hostage and give a list of demands to the chief minister.
Danish Sait plays Gopi, an arts and craft teacher in the school. The character, who speaks peculiar English in an equally peculiar tone, first became famous in Danish’s series of comedy sketches on YouTube. How Gopi handles this tricky situation forms the rest of the story.
‘One Cut Two Cut’ doesn’t have two important aspects of a comedy thriller: rip-roaring moments and tense-filled scenarios. In the name of a heist, director Vamsidhar gives us a tepid drama with unconvincing twists. The film, at least, should have ended with a bang.
The film takes digs at the controversy-hungry Kannada news channels, and the pathetic state of affairs in our government schools. They are relatable and even funny in some places, yet they don’t enhance the story.
This is a Kannada film but the characters speak in English and Hindi. They are authentic to the film’s backdrop. ‘One Cut Two Cut’ is unapologetically made for the Bengaluru crowd and that’s fine because we must have films of all kinds. There are funny nods to the urban and college crowd’s love for web series’ (hence the Money Heist costume), online food-ordering, intermittent fasting. Of course, the city’s traffic problems get a mention as well.
We aren’t sure why Danish Sait is bronzed-up as Gopi. Is the film trying to define the typical middle-class appearance? Or is it trying to put skin complexion as one of the reasons behind his unmarried status?
It will take a while for people to warm up to Gopi’s personality and characteristics. Nograj, from the outset, is a cunning, selfish, and wacky politician. And he has grown on us with every outing. Whereas we aren’t still sure what makes Gopi different. He is naïve and innocent in the beginning and turns brainy and even pulls off a superhero act in the climax. The transition might take people off-guard. It shhould have been more organic.
For a change, we see a supporting actor outdo Danish. Vineeth Kumar's shines with his expressions. He gets the best lines as well.
You are smiling at many points in the film but you don’t burst out laughing as the film promised us. 'One Cut Two Cut' is a pandemic film, shot in 20-odd days. While the attempt is appreciable, the result leaves us wanting more.