Bollywood Monq Ratings : [rating stars=”2.5″]
Director : Aakash Bhatia
Adapted from : Run Lola Run (1998)
Starring : Taapsee Pannu, Taahir Bhasin, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Shreya Dhanwanthary
Adapted & Written by : Dr. Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Pedgaonkar, Aakash Batia, Arnav Vepa Nanduri
Released on : Netflix
Run Time : 131 Minutes
“Good decisions come from experience, experience comes from making bad decisions”- this single line can tell us the entire plot or the story of the recently released film ‘Looop Lapeta’. Our decisions make our destiny. Whatever we are doing (or not doing), will define our future & of course, the future decisions. So, the film starts with this message only. No prize for remembering that ‘Looop Lapeta’ is not an original concept, but the remake of a classic German film titled ‘Run Lola Run’, directed by Tom Tykwer and it was made 21 long years ago, way back in 1998.
‘Loop Lapeta’ starts with Savi, played by Taapsee Pannnu, who suddenly discovers that she is pregnant. Oh, it’s her birthday too, though there is no any arrangements for celebration can be seen and she is sitting on the commode seat holding the prega news strip and looking at the result, showing by red marks. But before she could handle herself with this news of being pregnant, her phone starts ringing. It was his boyfriend Satya, a gambling addict, on the other side. He came up with another devastating news. His life is in danger as he has lost a bag containing his boss’s money of 50 Lakh. So he asks Savi for help to arrange the money.
Hence, Savi discovers two of the most differentiating insight about her life simultaneously of being pregnant and her beau is practically going to have shot by a mafia. Oh did I miss anything? yes, the tale of how these two met. Satya met Savi when she was trying to commit suicide by jumping down from a hospital building. He stopped Savi from committing suicide by his motivation and catchy one-liners. We also came to know that, Savi has bee a sprinter who loses her ability to compete in the track and field after a serious knee injury. On the other side, Satya is a ‘good-for-nothing’ small-time gambler who also works for a gangster Victor, played by very talented actor Dibyendu Bhattacharya.
So Savy starts her mission to help her boyfriend with 50 Lakhs of cash and save his life from Victor. Here is the twist of the film starts, i.e. the loop aspect. But I must say, this time loop thriller takes too much of time to get on the right track and to warm you up to get engaged with its storyline. Adding to it, the length of the film which is 131 minutes also tries to test your patience to go along with the film to reach the climax.
Coming back to the storyline, Savy discovers that there is a time loop happening around her. After getting that phone call from Satya, she started running to reach her father and asked 50 lakh. Not only this, in this run she messed up with many other characters including a police officer, a cab driver etc. But after all of these efforts, she could not save his Satya, as he got shot dead by someone. Savy starts crying holding the dead body of Satya. But in the very next moment, she finds herself at the same bathroom where she was sitting holding the prega news strip. She could not believe this. But before she could figure out if it was a bad dream or something else, her phone rings. She picks it up and shocked to hear the same news from Satya. He asks her for help with 50 lakhs of cash or Victor will kill him. Savy understands the time loop thing. So, now Savy tries not to do the mistakes she did in the first attempt and think differently this time. But alas! she again missed it. Satya again got shot. But this time by someone else.
But again, Savy finds herself at the point zero, the bathroom. So, Savy got 3rd chance to save her love. Meanwhile Satya finds no other way rather than robbing a jewellery shop. He finds this as the only way to arrange the lost money in this very short time of 70 minutes. If he can’t give back the money on time, his mafia boss will kill him for sure. All this happens thrice for Savi. But, what will change in the third attempt? Would she be able to save her this time? Or, she will commit another mistake and end up Satya getting shot? This eagerness will land you at the climax of this Aakash Bhatia directed film which is released on Netflix.
There is popular line in Hindi – Nakal karne ke liye bhi akal chahiye – It means you need to have a brain and talent to even copy something properly. One may be disagree on this front, but I feel ‘Looop Lapeta’ is a good adaptation of the original film as it’s not a ‘Copy + Paste’ kind of remake, which is very common now in Bollywood. Every second recent release in Bollywood is now a frame-to-frame copy so south films.
But in case of Looop Lapeta, the makers have done it right by developing so much aspects in the screenplay, keeping the original idea of ‘Run Lola Run’ intact, to make it enjoyable for Indian audience. While talking about the acting, Taapsee Pannu tries hard to be realistic with her energetic performance, but I must say, nothing new in his acting skills. And here, her realistic approach while playing Savy, turns out to be way too casual in many a times. One would seriously feel that Taapsee Pannu playing the same character in each film of her. Same kind of dialogue delivery, expressions & everything she could do on screen. To make my point very clear,it would be very tough to differentiate between her characters of ‘Loop Lapeta’, ‘Thappad’ or ‘Rashmi Rocket’. They’re all same!
On the other hand, Tahir Bhasin is very impressive with his character. It’s mentionable that Tahir has been a great time of his career as ‘Looop Lapeta’ is his 3rd release within month after ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’ & ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’.
Best parts of ‘Looop Lapeta’
Whenever one would watch this film or talk about this adaptation, there are few very important positive points which would come into notice. Firstly, the colour tone of the film. The visuals are so colorful that one can’t blink an eye though there are lots of repetitive scenes in this time loop thriller. So first, the vfx and the color template must be appreciated. Secondly, the excellent cinematography and the editing. I feel, this film got a new life at the editing table though I am not happy with the length. It could have been trimmed. But keeping aside the length, much appreciated work has been done with editing and cinematography.
Another important aspect of the screenplay is the beautiful incorporation of Indian mythology of Satyabaan & Savitri in the storyline. Surely, one gonna love this part of this adaptation how it incorporates the story of time loop along with our mythology.
