Andhadhun

Development

Director-writer Sriram Raghavan saw L'Accordeur [fr] (The Piano Tuner), a 2010 French short film about a blind pianist, in 2013 at the recommendation of his friend, filmmaker Hemanth M Rao.^[6][7] Raghavan said although his film is different, the French film was its "basic germ".^[8] He wanted Rao to write a script based on the short but Rao was directing a film of his own.^[9] Raghavan then worked on Badlapur (2015) and had the "gist of the story". After reading about Kaabil, which is also about a blind man, he was about to start writing but stopped, thinking having two films about blind people would be "crazy". Raghavan later resumed the script, taking a different approach.^[8]

The idea of a blind pianist performing while a body is being dumped and a crime scene cleaned up fascinated Raghavan, who had written a similar scene for his previous film, Agent Vinod (2012), in which a blind girl plays the piano while surrounded by mayhem.^[7] Raghavan wrote the script with Arijit Biswas, Yogesh Chandekar, Rao and Pooja Ladha Surti. He gave the story idea to Varun Dhawan while they were working on Badlapur but Dhawan became busy with other films and the script was left unfinished.^[9] Negotiations with Suriya and Harshvardhan Kapoor also fell through. Raghavan discussed the scenes with the writers, who reacted as viewers.^[10]

Raghavan and Biswas were unhappy while translating the dialogue from English to Hindi because they thought in English. Raghavan told Biswas to write the dramatic dialogue in Bengali, which was "at least the Indian idiom". Surti wrote another version of the dialogue because her Hindi was better than that of the others.^[8] Raghavan cited the 1996 film Fargo and the eponymous television series as an inspiration, calling them "realistic and yet ... bizarre".^[8] One of his friends was in a situation similar to one in the film; he then realised old Hindi films use "piano songs" and decided make the blind pianist the main character.^[11]

Casting

Ayushmann Khurrana heard about the film from casting directors Mukesh Chhabra and Girdhar Swami. He contacted Raghavan, expressing interest in working on it.^[7][12] Raghavan conducted screen tests of the scene in which the protagonist wakes up blind: "There were two pieces – when you are acting blind and when you are actually blind, and we tried both. I wanted to see what the difference in his body language would be."^[12] Khurrana, who played the piano in the film,^[7] met several blind students and observed "how [a blind pianist] plays, conducts and moves his hands".^[13] Khurrana studied piano for four hours daily under Akshay Verma, a pianist based in Los Angeles,^[14] and did not use a body double in the film.^[13] He called it the "most challenging role" of his career.^[12] Khurrana was also trained by visually impaired musician Rahul Gajjal as part of the film.^[15]

Raghavan told Khurrana not to watch films with a blind protagonist and took him to the National School of the Blind.^[12] He said, "Since no two persons are the same, I picked up the nuances, learnt how to hold the stick and climb the stairs".^[12] Khurrana made omelettes and walked on the street blindfolded.^[16][12] He was given a pair of special lenses that impaired his vision by around 80 percent. His body language changed because he could no longer see properly.^[17] After wearing the black glasses, his vision was affected by 90 percent and he shot the entire film like that.^[18] Raghavan called Radhika Apte, who agreed to play Khurrana's love interest. Several scenes were improvised.^[13] Tabu was Raghavan's first choice for Simi.^[4] He did not brief her about scenes and they "kept developing [the character] as it went".^[13] Anil Dhawan played a former actor, a version of himself.^[9]

Raghavan said he wanted to make a "fun sort of thriller" to follow Badlapur. According to him, Andhadhun is not a whodunit; " ... The audience knows all along what's happening and why. It's the characters who don't."^[19] Raghavan and the film's director of photography K. U. Mohanan decided to "restrict everything to Akash's point of view" so the audience could see what Akash sees. There were no close-ups in the piano-playing scene, which was extensively rehearsed with several assistants to fit its timing into the four-minute piano piece. It was not rehearsed with the actors; Raghavan told them to "just do the scene" and gave them a time frame; "We didn't want it to look practiced; we needed that uncertainty".^[7] The film's first shot was rehearsed with Khurrana for three months.^[12] Raghavan called Andhadhun "a fun film in the macabre sense of the word", with moments of "wickedness and brutality".^[20]

Raghavan wanted the film to have an open ending and considered several options. Both the Viacom 18 and Matchbox Pictures production teams were apprehensive about the audience acceptance of an open ending but Raghavan persuaded them.^[7] Its working title was Shoot the Piano Player, which was changed because the producers felt an English title would "alienate people". The title is a play on the word andhadhund, which means reckless or relentless, and "a play on blind tune and trance".^[4] The film was edited by Surti, and Snigdha Karmahe, Pankaj Pol and Anita Donald were its production designers.^[21]

Filming

The film was shot in Pune, Maharashtra, over 44 days across more than a year, with principal photography beginning in June 2017 and concluding on 17 July 2018. Filming locations included Prabhat Road,^[22] where the protagonist's residence is located, as well as Cafe Goodluck and Victory Theatre in the Camp area.^[23] Portions of the film involving the characters Pramod Sinha and Simi were shot in Magarpatta City.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Andhadhun holds a rating of 100% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10.^[34]

Andhadhun garnered widespread critical acclaim.^[35] Raja Sen of The Hindustan Times rated the film 5 out of 5 stars and called it a "rare treat" and a film that is "so compelling that it may universally be considered irresistible".^[36] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun should rank among the most fascinating and fun suspense thrillers ever to emerge from Bollywood".^[37] Sukanya Verma of Rediff rated the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Andhadhun is a stunning, comic, grisly, absurd, intense, cold, crazy".^[38] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Watch Andhadhun with your ears, eyes and minds open. You will come away with your senses heightened."^[39] Rajeev Masand of News 18 rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and called it a film with "many pleasures ... chief among them is the thrill of being constantly surprised". He praised Khurrana's and Tabu's performances, calling them "in solid form" and "towering".^[40] Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and gave the film a positive review, calling it an "engaging thriller that keeps you on your toes and leaves you guessing all the way".^[41] Umesh Punwani of Koimoi rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Andhadhun also proves one thing why no high budget is required when you've such a strong script in hand".^[42] IANS of The Free Press Journal rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "Director Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun is a taut, skillful and surgically effective murder mystery".^[43] Ankur Pathak of HuffPost cited it as "the best film of 2018 so far" and "a film worth watching and then rewatching".^[44]

Shilajit Mitra of The New Indian Express rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and said in a review that "Raghavan creates a world interchangeably familiar and pulpy" in which he "strings together ingenious set-pieces and populates them with wryly-written characters".^[45] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and called Andhadhun "racy, pacy and appropriately pulpy" but said it becomes a "tad heavy-handed and dull" after a while.^[46] Devesh Shamrma of Filmfare rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Andhadhun has a zig zag storyline and spot on acting by the entire cast. It"s one of those mysteries which you"ll like to go back to despite knowing the ending".^[47] Shibaji Roychoudhury of Times Now said the second half was predictable and "falls flat" but called the film "thrilling, full of compelling performances and exceptional sound design that will keep you at the edge of your seat".^[48] Sushant Mehta of India Today rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Raghavan's ability to shock an entire cinema hall including the most immovable, emotionless fan coupled with his ability to make the audience laugh during these moments where your heart is in your mouth defines his unique brand of cinema".^[49] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote that the film has a "strong flavour of the Coen brothers at their peak, but also enough nods to Raghavan's longstanding interest in the dynamics of the perfect crime and the hustlers and flimflam artists who populate pulp detective stories". She said although the film's runtime was a stretch, it "slides into place as smoothly as one of Akash's piano pieces".^[50]

Anupama Chopra wrote, "The surroundings – high-rises, leafy streets and old houses in Pune – seem perfectly normal but what's happening inside is deliciously twisted. There's murder, betrayal, sex and a mountain of lies. In short, you can't look away."^[51] Udita Jhunjhunwala of Mint praised Khurrana's acting, calling it a "taut performance that balances vulnerability with craftiness", and said Tabu "runs away with the show".^[52] Shaheen Irani of Deccan Chronicle wrote, "Sriram has done a fab job in keeping dark humour intact with several quirky and surprise elements that will make you cover your face too".^[53]

Troy Ribeiro of Indo-Asian News Service called the film a "taut, skillful and surgically effective murder mystery" and said; "For most of its length, Andhadhun functions so efficiently that we put the cause and its effects on hold and go with the action".^[54] Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News described the film as an "unapologetic celebration of vitriol, darkness and mean-spiritedness".^[55] Namrata Joshi wrote, "While seemingly giving things away, Raghavan is actually always a step ahead of the viewers in the cat-and-mouse game".^[56]

Poulomi Das of Arre also gave Andhadhun a positive review, saying; "The film is all about clever writing, top-notch execution, and hard-hitting social commentary – but it is also a triumph of casting, and an ode to actors".^[57] Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters said "Andhadhun ticks all the right boxes" that should be "savoured."^[58] Kumar Shyam of The National wrote, "Drawing the viewers into multiple situations of right and wrong, black and white and then shades of grey, the climax also ends on a similar note with a deliberate climax, typical Hitchcockian, between salvation and revelation".^[59] Stutee Ghosh of The Quint said, "Andhadhun deserves praise and full attention ... Make sure to not miss anything, not the opening scene nor the end credits".^[60] Anita Iyer of Khaleej Times called the film a "crisply-edited, fast-paced narrative that keeps you on the edge of the seat throughout".^[61] J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy said; "Andhadhun shows that this veteran director knows how to make this kind of twisty genre gem better than almost anyone in India". He included it in his list of 14 Favorite Indian Films of 2018.^[62]

Box office

Andhadhun earned ₹2.5 crore (US$365,553.19) on its first day of release.^[63][64] The film's box office take increased with positive word of mouth and it grossed ₹5.1 crore (US$745,728.51) on its second day. It earned ₹15 crore (US$2.19 million) in its first weekend^[65] and grossed ₹41.1 crore (US$6.01 million) in ten days.^[66] The film became profitable before its theatrical release through the sale of its satellite television rights, which were sold to Colors.^[66] At the end of its six-week theatrical run, Andhadhun had earned ₹101 crore (US$14.77 million) at the box office, mainly from Mumbai. The film also did well internationally, earning ₹10.4 crore (US$1.52 million).^[67]

Prior to its release in China, Andhadhun had grossed ₹106 crore (US$15.5 million) worldwide, including ₹95.63 crore (US$13.98 million) in India and ₹10.37 crore (US$1.52 million) overseas.^[68] In China, the film surpassed its Indian lifetime collection within six days.^[69] Andhadhun has grossed ₹335 crore (US$47.57 million) in China,^[70] for a worldwide total of ₹456.89 crore (US$64.88 million).^[3]

Accolades