Kuttey (2023): Bollywood’s “Badass” Once Again!

“I never switched sides, I never switched lanes…Got older and realized; everybody ain’t the same!” Presenting the “Bollywood badass” once again after 14 long years! In 2009, it was the cult-classic super hit action-thriller “Kaminey”, translated as “Scoundrels”, which featured Shahid Kapoor and was directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. Now in 2023, Vishal Bhardwaj’s son, Aasmaan Bhardwaj, makes his directorial debut with another action-thriller titled “Kuttey”, translated as “Dogs”, which stars “The Underdog” Arjun Kapoor, and veteran actress Tabu. Kuttey has been co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and Bhushan Kumar, and made its theatrical release worldwide on January 13, 2023.

Kuttey (2023) Synopsis:

This is a story of three dreaded gangs whose members are like “stray dogs”. One rainy night, a bank van travels with crores of Indian Rupees in cash. These stray gangs plan to rob the van as it crosses from one point of Mumbai city to another. All the gangs have separate motives for robbing the van. Watch the full movie to know which of these gangs successfully execute their robbery plans. Will any of these gangs really succeed in obtaining the money? How do they obtain the money? Who kills whom? All these questions will be answered if you watch till the very end!

Kuttey (2023) Official Trailer:

The Good:

An Interesting Fast-Paced Screenplay

The story and screenplay of Kuttey have been written by Aasmaan Bhardwaj, with an additional screenplay written by Vishal Bhardwaj. The compact plot of Kuttey moves on a robbery-based single track only, and that’s why at times you may start feeling a bit bored. However, the screenplay is utterly fast-paced and for sure, it will be enough to make up for your boredom!

The screenplay is gripping as it will engross you in a guessing game! To add to it, the action-filled screenplay is loaded with numerous thrilling instances. The screenplay’s narrative style has been designed so that it moves forward, goes back a little bit, and then again continues forward. As the screenplay fluctuates and proceeds, numerous characters get introduced and as you will be watching this movie, you will have quite an interesting time associating the newly-introduced characters with the plot.

The Original Hard-Rock “Dhan-Te-Nan” From Kaminey (2009) Featuring Shahid Kapoor!

The Action You Asked For!

Kuttey’s action scenes will not entice every group of the audience. The action scenes have been choreographed by Harpal Singh and Anton Moore. But for that section of the audience, who are hard-hearted and carefree, the action scenes can be a feast for their eyes! Throughout the movie, about every 5 minutes, you will witness extreme gang wars and gun violence. I personally feel that the guns which have been displayed in this movie, whether they be real or fake, have got the maximum screen time. Much more than even the lead actors! Excuse me for this joke!

Now It’s Time For Dhan-Te-Nan Once Again! Presenting The Remastered Track “Phir Dhan-Te-Nan” from Kuttey!

Convincing Performances

Arjun Kapoor who made his Bollywood debut in 2012 with the romantic-action drama Ishaqzaade, has given noteworthy performances in action-thrillers like Ek Villain Returns. His performance in Kuttey is convincing enough to add value to the film. His acting in Kuttey is at par with that of Shahid Kapoor in Kaminey. Arjun Kapoor and Tabu, both play police officers in Kuttey. After seeing Tabu, I felt as if she is reprising her cop character from Drishyam in this movie. However, unlike Drishyam, her cop character in Kuttey is filled with verbal abuse just like Arjun’s character. In short, these two are very abusive cops!

Naseeruddin Shah plays gangster Narayan Khobre and Radhika Madan plays his daughter who is also one of the robbers. There are a hell lot of characters in Kuttey and the actors who played these characters did lend great support. Supporting actors like Kumud Mishra, Shardul Bhardwaj and Ashish Vidyarthi, and actresses like Konkona Sen Sharma made their screen presence felt even if some of them had very brief roles.

Aptly Captured With Some Serious Editing

Kuttey has awesome cinematography done by Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi. The camera angles were precise in capturing every detail of the robbery execution. At times, the scenes were shot in extreme darkness. However, the dark theme and at times, red background themes gave this movie an illicit touch. The visuals, backgrounds, as well as character-related makeovers of the actors, greatly matched the theme of the movie.

The credit for Kuttey’s editing goes to A. Sreekar Prasad. Kuttey has been aptly edited keeping its run duration as precise as possible; that is 2 hours and 35 minutes. Considering the great in-flow of numerous fluctuating instances and thrill within the action-based screenplay, I feel the editor did an appreciable work in omitting confusion from the screenplay and keeping it understandable for the general audience.

The “Legendary Track” Once Again!

I usually prefer romantic and emotional tracks. Badass rough tracks don’t appeal to me much. Kuttey is loaded with rough and rocky tracks which are not at all appealing to me. However, when it’s time for “Dhan-Te-Nan”, I don’t mind appreciating it!

If you are not aware of the hard-rock video track “Dhan-Te-Nan” from Kaminey, I suggest you watch it because it’s time for “Dhan-Te-Nan” on the streets once again! There are two remastered tracks in Kuttey titled “Ek Aur Dhan-Te-Nan” and “Phir Dhan-Te-Nan” which may not be as appealing as the original one, but they are rocking enough to make you dance to their electrifying beats!

And yes, the entire background music in this movie is “Dhan-Te-Nan” only. It will remind you of “Kaminey” which was a mega-hit.

The Bad:

The Climax Could Have Been Better

You may have come across the story of the scorpion and the frog. The scorpion was riding on the back of the frog while it swam to cross the river. In the midway, the scorpion suddenly stung the frog. The frog died and along with it, the scorpion drowned too. So, no one really made it to the other side of the river. But what would have happened if no frog was there in the story? Then the king of the story would have been the scorpion itself. The concept of this story is not good and evil but I would rather say; it is entirely wrong!

In Kuttey, you will see a confrontation between many scorpions, each ready to sting one another. Here you will witness packs of “dogs” who have come out of their hiding. These “dogs” are bent upon obtaining “a juicy piece of bone”. “The bone”, as per this story, is the cash-filled van that they plan to rob. These guys have been addressed as “dogs” in this movie because, like dogs, they too smell a bone and come running for it. The story uses the Butterfly Effect, where several sub-plots are related and merged within the main plot at the end. Even if the plot is direly unpredictable and you never know what is going to happen, still I personally feel that the ending could have been better. By “better”, I mean to say that it should have lived up to the thrilling plot. I won’t spoil the suspense by revealing the climax this time as I usually do in my reviews. Because suspense is the building block of this film!

Even if the ending is not so good, the twist in this story is amazing! Here not just the gangsters are plotting to rob the van, but the police officers as well! So, here you will see a harsh reality about how, at times, money can make even police officers to turn into thieves! Lack of moral duty I guess? In short, there are no heroes in this movie. Everybody turns into villains, and is after the money in the van!

And what’s more, Aasmaan Bhardwaj has managed to infuse some dark comedy in between such a horrific tragedy! There are unexpected funny moments in this film that may leave you feeling ashamed for laughing at someone’s death. Some of the killings have been portrayed in a comical manner.

Caution: Do Not Watch With Your Families!

The dialogues in Kuttey have been written by Vishal Bhardwaj. Looks like Vishal Bhardwaj is still continuing the trend of making abusive movies. He made the Shahid Kapoor-starrer “Kaminey” which was ultra-abusive. Now he, along with his son, has come out with “Kuttey”, which with its mega-abusive dialogues has crossed all limits!

The dialogues narrated by all the actors and actresses in Kuttey contain all kinds of abuses that are probably there in this world. So, I would advise you that you do not watch this movie along with your family and children because it contains incest-related abuses as well.

The Verdict:

Kuttey was filmed in various outskirt locations of Mumbai. This is Aasmaan Bhardwaj’s directorial debut and upon seeing the film, I can feel that he is simply doing what many “obedient sons” do. That is to follow the footsteps of their dads!

Kuttey is a tribute to Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2009 Kaminey and has been filmed in a similar pattern. Kuttey is entertaining, raw, and brutal. It is a wild tale of bloodthirsty criminals. I would say that Aasmaan Bhardwaj does deserve an applause for his directorial debut. Upon watching Kuttey, you wouldn’t feel that this has been directed by a newbie director like him! The narrative style is so engaging! Of course, daddy is always there to guide him, that’s another matter.

If you wonder, “How this movie is related to Kaminey?”, then let me tell you that it is not because this has been directed by Vishal Bharadwaj’s son. If you know Hindi, you must be aware of the popular Hindi slang, “Kuttey, Kaminey”. This “Kuttey, Kaminey” phrase which means “You Dog, You Scoundrel!” has often been used by veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra for decades in his acting career.  So, the association is simple! In 2009, daddy came out with “Kaminey” and now, daddy’s boy has come out with “Kuttey”!

Watch Kuttey if you wish to see “The Underdog” act like a dog who is hungry for a bone! However, I would also like to make you aware of the fact that this is not some “great” movie. It’s entertaining, but not something you would like to waste your precious time on if you really don’t want to.