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Movie Reviews

The Girl On The Train review: Struggles to stay on track

Ribhu Dasgupta’s adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ bestseller tests your patience for two hours

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Parineeti Chopra in The Girl On The Train

The Girl On The Train

Director: Ribhu Dasgupta

Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Kirti Kulhari, Avinash Tiwary, Aditi Rao Hydari

Streaming on: Netflix

Ribhu Dasgupta’s The Girl On The Train is an adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ bestseller of the same name. Haven’t read the novel nor watched the Hollywood adaptation released in 2016 starring Emily Blunt. Researched on the internet and found that the Hollywood version received mixed response. The Hindi version stars Parineeti Chopra as Mira who is accused of a murder she can’t remember.

Mira is struggling in her career as a lawyer because of her alcoholism and a troublesome divorce. She is still stuck on her ex-husband Shekhar (Avinash Tiwary) and his second marriage. Her only hope is a happy couple she sees from her train rides. Nusrat (Aditi Rao Hydari) and Anand (Shamaun Ahmed) play this picture perfect couple. Mira builds her own stories around seeing the happy couple together.

Also read: 1962 The War In The Hills review: Never gains momentum

When Nusrat goes missing and Mira is spotted in the vicinity, she becomes a major suspect. Owing to her alcoholism and a traumatic accident Mira struggles to remember (amnesia) anything from the night. Inspector Dalbir Kaur (Kirti Kulhari) has enough evidence to make Mira question her movements.

The film is set in London, which doesn’t really serve any big purpose. The writing lacks the grip that a thriller (of any kind) must get spot on. The film must have been made for a theatrical release. That explains more Hindi being used by characters residing and working in the UK. It is a little jarring. Whether it’s Parineeti’s alcoholic lawyer or Kirti Kulhari’s determined police officer or Aditi Rao Hydari’s mysterious Nusrat, they summarize the film struggling to find the right track or direction.

Kirti Kulhari and Avinash Tiwary try to do justice to whatever they get to play. Parineeti tries sincerely to pull off a part which is poorly directed. Staying focused on this two-hour long psychological thriller is a task unto itself. Watched it in parts as it simply didn’t hold attention for more than 15 minutes straight.

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