Blurr review: Taapsee Pannu's whodunnit slasher thriller is convoluted and gory

2/5

In this ZEE5 original, Taapsee Pannu plays Gayatri, a woman with a degenerative eye disorder who is slowly losing her sight. She must, however, figure out what happened to her twin sister, Gautami (Pannu), and why.

From the time the second half starts, Taapsee Pannu's character Gayatri is blindfolded, and thus we also stop seeing any characters, as most of the film is from her perspective. The whole idea of making the viewers live in the dark must have made those white pages turn, but not on the black screen where it eventually translated. Overall, it's a very tiring thing to watch, even though it has some great ideas and is mostly well done. Blurr is the Hindi remake of Julia's Eyes, a Spanish horror and psychological thriller film. Three genres crammed into one film can make or break it; it does the latter and blurs everything it was meant to be.

It's either a thriller or a biopic—that's how Taapsee Pannu has summed up her last two years in the movies. This year itself, the actor was seen in Looop Lapeta, Shabash Mithu, Dobaaraa, and now the latest, Blurr. The ZEE5 original films mark her debut as a producer, and should we even be surprised that the actor chose the thriller genre to be the first one she backs? Moreover, it's not just that; this is the actor's fourth remake film of the year too.

Blurr is about identical twin sisters named Gayatri and Gautami (both played by Pannu) who have a disease that makes their eyesight worse over time. Gautami has already undergone unsuccessful surgery, and she has become visually impaired. Her clouded eyes are the first glimpse of the film, and in no time we see camera flashes, and bam, she has hung herself, which is not suicide. From then on, it's clear that the camera will work in a certain way if the character can't see.

But Blurr can be called a harrowing experience to watch, as the well-intentioned jump scares are not at all organic. The most important parts of the story are the rainy hill station and the house with everything bad happening in the attic.

Taapsee is joined by Gulshan Devaiah in the film as her onscreen husband, and he is the first one to not believe Gayatri, who is sure that Gautami has not died by suicide. But that's all the actor has to offer in the film, and he doesn't even leave an impressive mark. Meanwhile, the trouble keeps going for Gayatri, and everyone else thinks she is delusional and may still be traumatised by her sister's death.

The exhaustive experience tests your patience to the next level, as you are just getting blurry visions, which is what the film is all about. At one point in time, you might be intrigued to know who the "invisible man" is that Gayatri is talking about, and the revelation is quite gory, if not scary. The two hours don't waste time getting to the point, but when it finally does, it takes so much time to read the climax that you are totally done with the film.

The main reason for that is the slasher genre, which it tries hard to hit right but gets zeroed down to be the opposite of "don't go back inside the house." The film takes on a very stylish approach, mainly with the cinematography, but it just gets confusing thinking about whether this was even necessary. The suspense-filled runtime is all about how the camera plays the maximum game to show and hide everything at the same time, leaving the audience wanting for more. But this is mainly about just ending the film, because it's not the performances that are helping it go hand in hand.

I haven't watched Julia's Eyes, so there's no space for me to do the comparison with the original. However, from what I read about the film, it's been touted as a stylish slasher genre, which has been poorly executed in Blurr.

The director Ajay Bahl, who has been known for directing BA Pass, has taken charge of the Taapsee Pannu starrer, but only to make it a touch nonsensical. But we have to give Sudhir K. Chaudhary credit for his cinematography, which is excellent. Rains are an unwelcome guest in the hauntingly misty places of a North Indian hill station.

In terms of performance, the dialogues given to Taapsee Pannu make her look more foolish than traumatized. The actor makes it very easy to get annoyed with her character for making nonsensical decisions throughout the film. Being blindfolded for the majority of the second half of the film is a difficult nut to crack, which Taapsee almost masters. However, it's Gulshan Devaiah who has been a major disappointment, not being able to deliver what is expected of him, and it's only because of his poorly-written character. Abhilash Thapliyal is in the whole film, but only to get a surprise revelation towards the climax. The actor does a good job, but after a while, it will start to bother you.

Blurr tries very hard to be an exciting whodunnit thriller that you only want to know who did it so as to make the film end as soon as possible.

Blurr is what we can call a failed opportunity that had room to make a course correction after being a remake of the hit Spanish film. Taapsee Pannu will get your attention, but only to make it forgettable in no time.