‘Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work’ : Gustave Flaubert
In a previous interview with Indian Express, Sriram Raghavan described himself using the above quoteby the French author. At that time, he was engrossed in promoting what eventually became the most successful film of his career, Andhadhun. Now, six years later, the filmmaker returns with another much-anticipated thriller, Merry Christmas, slated to hit theatres on Friday.
At first glance, Sriram’s cinematic style is easily discernible. He specialises in neo-noir thrillers and has openly expressed his partiality towards the genre. He has confessed to being heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock and of being completely enamored by French cinema, especially the French New Wave, which saw filmmakers rejecting the traditional style of filmmaking.
Sriram is the product of the books and the cinema he has consumed over the years. However, the world he creates might be dark and gritty, inspired by foreign classics, but it never feels remote. This holds true even in the case of the Tom Cruise-esque globe-trotting flick, Agent Vinod. The essence of his films lies in their uniqueness, unabashedly embracing an indigenous flavour that resonates deeply with audiences. Be it a regular middle-class guy turning into a Dexter-like murderer in Badlapur or a blind man playing the piano in Andhadhun, his films elicit a sense of shock without ever feeling alien.
The trailer of Merry Christmas begins with a person making peanut chutney with dry chillies, while another mixes questionable tablets, a quintessential Sriram Raghavan world, glimpses of which we have often seen in works of contemporary filmmakers like Raj and DK and Vasan Bala. Before the much-awaited seventh film of the director (in a span of 20 years) hits the theatre, let’s take a look at his past films and how they crowned him the king of the thriller genre in the Hindi film industry.
The Eight Column Affair
Sriram Raghavan aspired to become a journalist when he came to Mumbai (Bombay at the time), but luck had him meet director Mukul Anand, which prompted him to join FTII (Film and Television Institute of India). While Ek Hasina Thi is regarded as Sriram’s directorial debut, his FTII diploma film, The Eight Column Affair, was nothing short of a full-fledged directorial debut. The film won the National Award that year in the Best Short Fiction Film category and also starred actor Nana Patekar in a cameo appearance.
Watching it on YouTube in 2023 in black-and-white felt surreal and mind-blowing at the same time, with the brilliance of the concept shining through. The film unfolds as a gripping race against time, with an athlete portrayed by Shivkumar Subramaniam, featured on the front page of a newspaper, falling in love with a tennis player showcased on the last page. The protagonist must navigate through various headlines to meet her before the clock strikes 12, as the newspaper literally expires the next day.
The narrative takes the audience on a journey encompassing magic shows, bloody wars, newfound capitalism, forgotten villages, and population booms. In this half-hour film, Sriram skillfully offers a glimpse into the developing India of that era. In a peculiar way, The Eight Column Affair brought to mind Tom Hanks’s 1994 film Forrest Gump. However, here, the protagonist’s lightning-fast journey parallels the rapid pace of the journalistic world.
Ek Hasina Thi
“Finding the right story is never easy,” Sriram said in an old interview with Filmfare, and this sentiment may be the reason behind the years he took before venturing into his directorial debut Ek Hasina Thi. I remember watching it as a teenager on television and it still lives rent-free in my head, especially the climax scene, where Urmila Matondkar coldly walks off, leaving an injured Saif Ali Khan tied up in a cage full of rats. I can still hear his character, Karan scream.
What heightened the film’s thrill and made it unforgettable was witnessing the transformation of Sarika, an initially innocent and fragile character, into a cold-blooded avenger—a theme that Sriram continued to explore in his subsequent films. In the early 2000s, Saif Ali Khan was at the peak of his chocolate boy era and to see him play a deceitful and ruthless character made the film all the more frightening.
Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan in a still from Ek Hasina Thi.
Johnny Gaddaar
Sriram was on a diet of French cinema when he made Johnny Gaddaar, the filmmaker admitted the same in his past interview with Scroll. He also named French crime thrillers like The Killing, Rififi and Un Flic to be the inspiration behind the film. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic Crime and Punishment also influenced his writing. Inspired by these crime thrillers, a unique amalgamation formed in Sriram’s creative mind, which birthed the character of Johnny Gaddaar, the film’s cold-blooded murderer, who also took on the role of the lead character.
Vikram, alias Johnny, turns members of his own gang into victims of his insatiable greed. Although his killings are portrayed as motivated by a twisted love for his partner’s wife, the film does not shy away from depicting the horror of his actions and the inevitable consequences that follow. Inspired by the aforementioned French films, Sriram opted for a minimal background score in Johnny Gaddaar, allowing natural background sounds and minimal dialogue to create an atmospheric experience. While the violent scenes in the film may not be explicitly graphic, the strategic use of silence heightens their chilling impact.
Agent Vinod
Sriram and Saif collaborated once again with Agent Vinod, but this time their approach misfired. It stands as the only Sriram Raghavan film where the director’s distinctive pulse is absent, and it’s perhaps because the filmmaker attempted to shape it into a camp film and transform it into a franchise. In his recent interview, the filmmaker admitted to focusing on sequences in Agent Vinod rather than the story.
Despite this misstep, Sriram’s focus on sequences did yield memorable results. A standout moment in the film is a 4-minute long shot set against Pritam’s soft track Raabta. This sequence, featuring Saif’s Vinod and Kareena’s Irum navigating their way out of a hotel while simultaneously taking down attackers, unfolds against the melodic backdrop of Raabta, with a blind girl playing the piano. We wonder if Andhadhun’s idea originated from this scene. While Agent Vinod may have faded from collective memory, the film’s music and certain cleverly crafted sequences remain in the minds of audiences.
Badlapur
After the setback of Agent Vinod, Sriram Raghavan made a triumphant return to his filmmaking prowess with Badlapur. This revenge crime thriller resonated with his fans, drawing parallels to his debut film. In Badlapur, an ordinary individual descends into darkness to exact violent revenge on two criminals who had brutally ended his family’s life 15 years prior. “Crime stories fascinate us since we all have a dark side to us,” Sriram once said and it holds true to his 2015 film.
Badlapur delves into the depths of human madness when pushed to the brink. It stands as Sriram’s most explicit and violent film, reminding of the intensity found in Anurag Kashyap’s cult classic Gangs Of Wasseypur. The movie also echoes the violent vulnerability seen in Kashyap’s Ugly.
Andhadhun
“For Badlapur, we had the tagline, ‘Don’t miss the beginning’. For Andhadhun, I’m considering the tagline, ‘Don’t reveal the ending.”’ Sriram said in his old interview. The film unfolds with Ayushmann Khurrana portraying a blind piano player entangled in a murder mystery. Once again, the filmmaker drew inspiration from classics such as Scent of a Woman and Ray, a film based on the legendary rhythm-and-blues musician Ray Charles. The film’s divisive ending sparked numerous debates, and although Sriram acknowledged its risky nature, it worked in favour of the film as fans continued to speculate about Ayushmann’s character, Akash, and his visual impairment.
Filled with surprises and featuring power-packed performances by Tabu and Ayushmann, the film benefited from Amit Trivedi’s music, which lent it a refreshing tone without veering into excessive darkness for the audience. Sriram’s ingenious decision to incorporate real-life 70s star Anil Dhawan as a character, utilizing footage from his old films, proved to be a stroke of genius — a format that has since been adopted in many Hindi films. This crime comedy thriller stands as the most successful film in Sriram Raghavan’s career, securing three National Awards and grossing over Rs 450 crore worldwide.
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