U-Turn Review: Alaya F starrer is underwhelming and gory

Film: U-Turn

Director: Arif Khan

Star Cast: Alaya F, Ashim Gulati, Priyanshu Painyuli, Manu Rishi Chadha

Platform: Zee5

Bollywood Bubble ratings: 1.5/5 stars

one-and-half-star

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U-Turn Review:

The best part about films releasing in the OTT space is that filmmakers face no restrictions in terms of storytelling. While some make the best use of this liberty, others simply get carried away, and sadly director Arif Khan falls under the latter. Bringing a psychological thriller to the audiences with the 1 hour 41 minutes film, U-Turn fails to make an impact or even grab your attention. In fact, if I have to describe the film in an adjective, I would call it ‘too basic’.

Yes, everything in U-Turn is something we have already seen, in fact, there were too many scenes that only reminded me of references from Hollywood shows and films. The story of U-Turn revolves around a journalist played by Alaya F who is working on a story to expose an untoward hack on a bridge that causes many accidents, but things only begin to backfire when all the people she puts on her list die. The majority of the film only goes ahead to solve this mystery and that’s about it.

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What’s so great about U-Turn…

Well, there is nothing great about the Alaya F film, even the performances are very decent. In fact, the only character you feel great watching and shines through this weak story is Priyanshu Painyuli who plays Inspector Arjun Sinha. His performance was truly nice to watch.

Drawbacks of U-Turn…

Performances

I feel very bad to say that after Freddy, Alaya F couldn’t charm us with some stellar acting chops. In U-Turn throughout the film it just feels like she is playing pretend. Her acting is not effortless. Ashim Gulati on the other hand is underutilized, and his performance too looks very superficial.

Dialogues

A major problem I had with U-Turn was its writing. The dialogues are not at all tasteful, in fact, they were unnecessarily crass in places. Every actor’s dialogue delivery is not up to the mark for some reason.

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Plot

The film’s plot is also not very solid, it has too many loopholes and is very predictable. In fact, in the first 40 minutes of the film, I could say who the culprit is. The plot lacked impact, the thrill. The goriness of showing bruised, blood-filled, and broken faces of dead victims was something that made the film further unpleasant to watch. In fact, there are so many scenes I could point out where Hollywood references from Conjuring, Stranger Things, and even Game Of Thrones were taken. The ideas in the plot simply felt all over the place.

Conclusion:

With such brilliant actors like Alaya F, and Ashim Gulati, and an even better producer like Ektaa Kapoor, director Arif Khan could have hit the ball out of the park with U-Turn. Sadly, he couldn’t take a shot even outside the pitch. U-Turn is a story that will make you want to hit the back or return button on your device within a few minutes.

Watch the trailer for U-Turn here:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Alaya F REACTS to Priyanka Chopra calling her ‘Bollywood’s next superstar’

Nawaz Kochra

Nawaz Kochra has been an experienced journalist in the entertainment arena for the last 9 years. Worked with the biggest brands in the media fraternity, he now heads the editorial desk at Bollywood Bubble. In addition to that, he even hosts a podcast called, Let’s Talk with Bollywood Bubble. Someone who is calm, yet a firecracker, and holds a balanced opinion about things, Nawaz is strong-headed and determined. He loves films as well as web shows and TV (yes, he is from that generation!), and that’s why writing about them is more of a passion for him than just a job.