Crazxy: Sohum Shah’s Follow-Up To Tumbbad Is A Wild Ride, Literally

IT TAKES IMMENSE COURAGE and gumption to make a follow-up film to Tumbbad like Crazxy. Because while Tumbbad is rich in craft, culture, mythological references and horror tropes, while also spanning across decades and characters from different generations, Crazxy is a racy thriller that spans a mere few hours in a day, follows around one man entirely (with minimal other characters) and most of the film plays out via phone conversations in real-time. But trust Sohum Shah, the producer and the lead actor of both films, to pull it off. Don’t get me wrong, Sohum Shah is a great actor, and a decently good-looking man (with an extra splash of a dad bod) but even so, mounting a 2-hour film solely on one character is… 'crazxy'.

The film begins with Dr Abhimanyu Sood (Shah) leaving his house with a bag of 5 crores. He’s stressed and in a hurry to get somewhere. His boss calls him to ask about the money. He doesn’t reveal much initially but we can tell Sood is in trouble for something, and the money is his buyout. We learn more about the narrative context via small hints — a radio jockey that tells us it’s April Fool’s Day; his ex-wife and current partner, both of whom call at opportune moments in the film to fill us in on Sood’s journey; his lawyer who gives the audiences more info about the legal case he’s entangled in because of medical negligence, which he needs to settle out of court.

At some point, he gets a call from an unknown number and he’s told that his daughter Vedica has been kidnapped and the kidnapper wants 5 crores as ransom. For quite a while, neither Sood nor the audience believes this is real. Could be an April Fool’s prank. Sood wonders why the kidnappers didn’t call his ex-wife, who his daughter lives with. More in-depth phone conversations with his ex (voiced by Nimisha Sajayan) reveal his daughter is 16 years old and has Down’s Syndrome, and Sood has a strained relationship with her. His current partner (voiced by Shilpa Shukla) eggs him to let the “past be in the past”, essentially indicating that he should let the mother handle this problem. But his dad-guilt overpowers him as soon as he learns the kidnapping is very much real, and Sood goes into beast mode trying to protect his daughter.

The first half has some interesting tidbits, including a long one-take introduction scene, some Tarantino-esque camera placements, a pumping, retro background score and a few mind-bending visuals while Sood drives from a swanky and over-architectured Gurgaon to the remote highways of Haryana. But things start to get quite wild in the second half. One particularly nail-biting scene involves two life-or-death situations — his daughter has an epileptic fit and Sood has to talk with the kidnapper on how to handle the situation from a medical point of view, and simultaneously, he coaches a junior surgeon on a video call while he attempts his first intestinal surgery of a man on his death bed — and one punctured tyre in the middle of nowhere. So, Sood juggles both conversations while changing the tyre of his car, and you can’t help but be gobsmacked at how the 20-minute scene flies by on the edge of your seat. At several points in the second half, you will find yourself saying, “Okay, this is crazy” — so the film’s title is quite apt.

Crazxy isn’t flawless, though. You’re left with a few unanswered questions by the end and I could predict the big twist within the first 45 minutes of the film. The climax seems like a bit of a cop-out but it also takes a strong moral stance, so kudos for that, I guess. Something meatier would have been nice. Speaking of meaty, there are several gory shots in the film, including one of a dog carcass which I just could not understand the relevance of. Maybe I’m missing some deep symbolism here but some of those shots were merely for shock value, perhaps to jolt the audience back to attention since so much screen time is spent in the car with Sood driving. There are some moments where you will laugh out loud but there are also moments when you want to scream, “Can you move a bit faster!” at the screen. With more deft direction, perhaps Crazxy could have been a tighter, more meaningful thriller, but to be honest, at this point, I’m just nit-picking. There are a bunch of impressive releases this week (Superboys of Malegaon, Dabba Cartel to name a few), but give this small film a chance to blow your mind, and it will.