‘Blind’ Hindi movie review: Sonam Kapoor struggles to make a fist of this shallow crime thriller

Sonam Kapoor in ‘Blind’

A predictable crime thriller that seems to have been mounted just to populate the library of a newly-launched streaming platform, Blind demands an undemanding audience to appreciate its formulaic craft. Drawn from a Korean film of the same name that has already been made in Tamil, the narrative follows the textbook pattern of a thriller, where an ex-cop fighting her own demons chases down a psychopath.

After losing her stepbrother and eyesight in a freak car accident, the intrepid Gia Singh (Sonam Kapoor Ahuja) is struggling to keep her spirit alive and kicking. An orphan who believes more in her dog than God to guide her, one night she inadvertently walks into the trap of a serial killer (Purab Kohli) while waiting for a taxi. She survives, but the police refuse to accept her as an eyewitness. In comes detective Inspector Prithvi Khanna (Vinay Pathak) who gradually starts believing Gia’s version and her sense to smell a crime.

Always chewing on something, Prithvi (ably played by Pathak), brings some humour to the pensive build-up. Soon another witness, Nikhil (Shubham Saraf), drops in out of thin air and we realise that the case will soon be solved after a few customary twists and fight sequences.

As the source material is a Korean thriller, there has to be some degree of gore. Director Shome Makhija plays to the pattern to address the audience who want their weekly dose of violence without too much change in the cheesy format. So, the psychopath has to have a disturbed childhood, the investigative officer has to have a quirky trait, and the blind protagonist must have an eye for fall-winter fashion and a colour scheme that goes with the climate of the city she lives in. No problem with the tropes, but they have to somehow align into a credible outcome; here, they cry for attention.

In such cold-blooded narratives, which were once smartly localised by the Bhatt camp, the twists marked by sharp dialogues and the inherent melancholy used to keep us invested. Here the twists can be seen from a distance and the brooding intensity is largely pretentious. More than the screenplay and performances, it is the chilling atmosphere of Glasgow, efficiently captured by cinematographer Gairik Sarkar, that generates some much-needed tension. The compositions are pedestrian but the background score periodically makes its presence felt.

Sonam returns to the turnstiles after a break with a role that nudges her to explore a new, complex shade in her personality. The role demands her to put her chirpy, vibrant side on the shelf and find a tenacious fighter within; Sonam does give it a fair shot.

As an ex-police officer, Gia is someone who is losing faith in the Almighty but is not cynical. Even though she is living with a pang of guilt, she is sure-footed in her demeanour. Sonam doesn’t disappoint but there is no significant value addition when it comes to internalising the character. She looks the part, gets the gait right, and dresses up the character immaculately, but when it comes to expressing the unsaid part — the silent storm building inside Gia — she leaves us yawning. The good thing for her is that the histrionics of the antagonist, played by Purab, makes her look better.

Blind is currently streaming on JioCinema