Ludo (film)

Ludo
Official release poster
Directed by	Anurag Basu
Written by	Anurag Basu
Produced by	Bhushan Kumar Divya Khosla Kumar Krishan Kumar Anurag Basu
Starring	Abhishek Bachchan Aditya Roy Kapur Rajkummar Rao Pankaj Tripathi Fatima Sana Shaikh Sanya Malhotra Rohit Suresh Saraf Pearle Maaney
Cinematography	Anurag Basu Rajesh Shukla
Edited by	Ajay Sharma
Music by	Pritam, Imran Hasan Shubha
Production company	T-Series
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	12 November 2020 (2020-11-12)[1]
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Ludo is a 2020 Indian anthology black comedy crime film written and directed by Anurag Basu. It is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Divya Khosla Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anurag Basu, Tani Basu and Deepshika Bose under the banners of T-Series, Anurag Basu Productions and Ishana Movies.^[2] It stars an ensemble cast of Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Pearle Maaney, Pankaj Tripathi, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Rohit Suresh Saraf, Saurabh Sharma, Shalini Vatsa, and Inayat Varma.^[3][4][5] The film was released on 12 November 2020 coinciding with Diwali on Netflix.^[1]

In an interview with PTI in February 2021, Anurag Basu said "the script of Ludo 2 is completely ready" and that he has already discussed it with the film's producer, Bhushan Kumar.^[6]

Plot[]

Ludo starts with two people contemplating life and death and they decide to play ludo. The game they play correlates to the lives of Sattu Bhaiya, Akash, Alu and Bittu.

Sattu Bhaiya is a notorious gangster who has to settle old scores with Bittu, who was once his right-hand man. Sattu Bhaiya becomes the dice of Ludo and Bittu forms the red side in Ludo.

Akash and Shruti form the yellow side. They find that someone has recorded a video of their affair and have uploaded it to the Internet. Then they start the race to find the culprit and take down the video before Shruti's would-be husband finds out.

The blue side is formed by Sheeja Thomas and Rahul Avasthi. Sheeja is a Malayali nurse who speaks only Malayalam while Rahul is a struggling young man from a small town being bullied by his boss. They find the treasure of Sattu Bhaiya and the gang chases them while they try to escape with the money.

The green side is formed by Alu and his school sweet heart Pinky. Pinky's husband becomes a suspect in a murder case and she seeks help from Alu to save him.

These four stories become entangled in a series of events, leading to an engaging climax where all four sides are present.

Cast[]

• Abhishek Bachchan as Batukeshwar "Bittu" Tiwari
• Aditya Roy Kapur as Akash Chauhan
• Rajkummar Rao as Alok “Alu” Kumar Gupta
• Pankaj Tripathi as Satyendra “Sattu” Tripathi
• Fatima Sana Shaikh as Pinky Jain
• Sanya Malhotra as Shruti Choksi
• Rohit Suresh Saraf as Rahul Awasthi
• Pearle Maaney as Sheeja Thomas
• Asha Negi as Asha
• Bhanu Uday as Bhanu
• as Shekhar
• Geetanjali Mishra as Sambhavi
• Ishtiyak Khan as Inspector Sukumar Sinha
• Anurag Basu as Narrator Yamraj (cameo)
• Rahul Bagga as Chitragupta (Cameo)
• Paritosh Tripathi as Pinky's husband Manohar Jain
• Akash Mahamana as the bearded goon

Production[]

Development[]

The film is produced by Anurag Basu, Taani Basu and Bhushan Kumar and features music by Pritam.^[7]

Release[]

The film was initially scheduled to release on 24 April 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though they were rumors that the film will release on Amazon Prime Video, the release rights were sold to Netflix. The film was to release on 13 November, but then was pushed forward by one day to avoid a clash with Amazon Prime Video's Chhalaang. The film finally release on 12 November on Netflix.

Reception[]

The film critics largely gave the film positive ratings. Anupama Chopra, Editor-in-Chief of Film Companion, wrote, "Whatever faults you might find with an Anurag Basu film, lack of invention isn’t one of them. The director creates worlds filled with whimsy and wonder, set to Pritam’s pulsating soundscape."^[8] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote, "Still, in this time of corona, the virus finding an honourable mention in the movie, we could do with some fun and games, even if it slackens in bits," praising Basu for using "perky musical interludes" to narrate the story.^[9] India Today reviewed the movie positively, calling it 'naram-garam and delicious' which is "out-of-the-box while staying firmly in the box."^[10] A review by the Hindustan Times said, "despite its missteps, keeps it breezy, with its cast helping it to stay the course."^[11] The Hindu film critic found that "the structure of Ludo written with careful precision and the construct is cleaner," which makes the film 'largely entertaining'.^[12] While, The Wire's Tanul Thakur felt that Ludo 'suffers' because Basu is "more interested in the mechanics of this tapestry, the many ways in which the disparate stories intersect and inform each other, as opposed to the tapestry itself: its overarching meaning, its dramatic power, its psychological portraits."^[13] Critic associated with the Deccan Herald received the movie as "a big disappointment".^[14] The Quint's review of the film said that "the screenplay steers clear of extravagance, which works in its favor." "While the setting may seem fable-like, the emotions they evoke in us are authentic. It might take some time to get used to, but once we understand the spirit of the film Ludo can prove to be a lot of fun."^[15]

Accolades[]

Soundtrack[]

Basu revealed in an interview^[18] with Grazia India that the song Hamdum Hardum was originally composed for Metro 2, a film that never got made. The film's music was composed by Pritam and Imran Hasan Shubha while lyrics were written by Sayeed Quadri, Sandeep Shrivastava, Tamojit Das, Shloke Lal, and Swanand Kirkire.

Controversy[]

Hinduphobic Anurag Basu was trending on twitter were netizens slammed the director for hurting sentiments of Hindu Community.^[19]

References[]

External links[]

• Ludo at IMDb 
• Ludo at Bollywood Hungama