Berlin REVIEW: Aparshakti Khurrana, Ishwak Singh starrer’s refreshing insights on India’s bureaucratic agencies is spellbinding

Film:
Berlin

Director: Atul Sabharwal

Writer: Atul Sabharwal

Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Ishwak Singh, Rahul Bose, Anupriya Goenka, Kabir Bedi

Runtime: 124 minutes (2 hours 4 minutes)

Platform: ZEE5

Berlin Review

Atul Sabharwal’s Berlin has nothing to do with Germany or the hit Spanish Netflix show. This spy-thriller – which has been screened at several film festivals over the last year, is set in New Delhi in 1993. The film is centred around a deaf-mute young man, Ashok Kumar (Ishwak Singh) who is accused of being a foreign spy. Owing to his disability, a sign language expert, Pushkin Verma (Aparshakti Khurana) is brought on board by the government’s bureaucratic agency to conduct an interrogation.

The 2-hour-long film unfolds many mysteries as the line between guilt and innocence blurs. Is Ashok really a spy? What troubles does Pushkin have to face after he gets tangled in this political conspiracy of a Russian delegate visiting the country? What secrets is Rahul Bose’s Jagdish Sondhi – the head of the Soviet desk at the Bureau, hiding? To know these answers you need to watch Berlin, and here’s our review about it.

What Works

Several things work in favour of the espionage thriller, especially the acting of Aparshakti, Ishwak and Rahul. The cinematography and Sabharwal’s attempt to tell a story we never imagined before is a breath of fresh air as the narrative is 100% not predictable.

What Doesn’t Work

The only thing that doesn’t work in favour of the film is its pace. Despite having a fresh and intriguing narrative, the film feels dragged. Unfortunately, if you are an impatient person and cannot sit in one place for a long time, you may watch the film in bits and pieces or doze off.

Technical Analysis

Story & Direection

Written by Atul Sabharwal, Berline is mainly centred on the lives of Ashok and Pushkin. The feature starts off slow despite the characters talking about time being of utmost importance. The first half of the film basically introduces the audience to the different characters and transports you back to the 90s, a time when technology wasn’t the strongest. It’s here that the makers reveal what is Berlin and why Ashok has been accused of being a spy. The film’s second half unveils more secrets – something that we don’t see in other hyperactive nationalism and xenophobia films that talk about government agencies.

Sabharwal perfectly captures the loneliness of both Ashok and Pushkin and the cut-throat nature of the officers in different government agencies to get what they want. The film – despite having a slow narrative, is punctuated with key incidents with help keep the story interesting.

Berlin Star Cast

The stars of the show without a doubt are Aparshakti Khurana and Ishwak Singh. The duo’s rapport during the interrogation is top-notch and deserves a round of applause.

Conclusion

Despite stellar performances by Aparshakti Khurana, Ishwak Singh and Rahul Bose, and Khurana and Singh shining during their mute interactions, the film will be loved by a niche audience. Berlin is something unexpected and deserves a watch at least once to know what a masterpiece it is.

Watch the trailer of Berlin here:

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