JOIN USRing Master
Kannada (A),Cast: Arun Sagar, Shrunga, Anushree, Shwetha
Director: Vishruth Naik
Drawing inspiration from 2012 Thai film Countdown, debutant director Vishruth Naik seeks to give his own take on horrific, thriller drama in Ring Master. Sadly, except for delineation in localisation of thematic context, Naik’s Ring Master, is a virtual carbon copy of the taut and terrifying Thai thriller.
If, in the original, a drug dealer takes masochistic and sadistic pleasure in tormenting three inhabitants of an apartment on the eve of New Year, in Ring Master, Bangi Ranga, the stranger, who barges in on unsuspecting threesome of Rocky, Madu and Veda, takes his own maniacal inquisitional methods to ferret truth out of them.
Running on the premise that one’s guilty past will prick one’s psyche, Naik, in Ring Master seeks to play reformer-philosopher pontificating on good and evil, even as he torments the trio into confessing their dark deeds bringing into focus lack of culture among modern day youth, their indiscretions, live-in relationships and deleterious impact on today’s society and parental responsibilities. After all, fear is the key. So, instil sense of fear, stalk them and they will come out with truth.
Where subtlety and nuanced direction would have rendered Naik’s intention delectable treat, he goes for hyperbole, making devilish fiend of Bangi Ranga and a fight to fend him off by the troubled and trapped trio. The film lacks finesse and turns out head splitting affair, never really engaging or entertaining, despite visible technical polish. It leaves expectant audiences a highly frustrated lot at the end of an excruciating show.