I recently watched (on dish TV) this alleged flop movie Table no 21. For the reality tv fans, this bollywood movie is an online game show in which a young jobless couple is chosen and offered INR 21 Cr ($4mn) for answering 10 questions honestly. It started as a mystery gift (foreign travel to a remote island paradise, all expense paid 5 star vacation, luxury jets etc) etc.
However as they progress into the game, they realize that the host (Paresh Rawal) has some ulterior motives. He is trying to manipulate them into witnessing their worst nightmares. Predictably such movies involve sadistic pleasures but the director did manage to connect it with a social message and rescue.
**Spoiler alert ***
The host’s only son is ragged by the couple during their college days and has left him scarred for life. The game show is nothing but a re-enactment of the trauma of ragging and how unknowingly one can do incalculable harm to others.
Compared to the typical masala movie, the script & direction is mediocre. However this is no art movie and for someone , which is an achievement in itself for a movie with a social message.
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