‘U-Turn’ movie review: Yet another insipid remake of a South Indian film

In the name of making the climax logical and believable, ‘U-Turn’ takes a complete detour, making it yet another thriller film filled with ‘been there, seen that’ elements

In recent times, Bollywood remaking South Indian films has largely not worked in their favour. Just four months into the year and we’ve already had underwhelming films like Shehzada, Bholaa and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. The latest to join this infamous list is U-Turn. A remake of the 2016 Kannada film of the same name, U-Turn was destined to break the jinx. The Kannada film was so successful that it become the third Indian movie to be remade in seven languages and it all boils down to a simple yet brilliant plot. But, with the idea being not to make it a scene-by-scene remake, the makers take a different route that’s neither thrilling nor appealing.

Just like in the original film, U-Turn begins with an accident on a flyover. A man moves a couple of concrete blocks that were bisecting the two roads to take an illegal U-turn. He doesn’t have the courtesy to put those blocks back in their place and this results in a car crash. We’re then introduced to Radhika Bakshi (Alaya F), a journalist working on an article on bikers doing the above-mentioned act on the same flyover.

For some reason, no other flyover has this issue and despite this clearly being a problem, those blocks aren’t replaced with something that isn’t easily removable. That would’ve possibly made the movie take the ‘right turn’, which could probably be the title of the sequel that’ll never get made, so let’s get back to what actually happens. Incidentally, a person who takes a U-turn on the bridge dies under mysterious circumstances and cops trace their way towards Radhika. When you wonder why Radhika is so attached to this article, we get glimpses of a backstory, denoting personal reasons behind her persistence. That’s also the point where the film takes a U-turn from its source material and meanders away into the darkness.

Remakes are usually a faithful retelling of the original story or they take the core idea of the film and tweak it to the sensibilities of their industry. But U-Turn goes a step ahead. In the name of making the climax logical and believable, the new film takes a complete detour, making it a genre-bending film filled with ‘been there, seen that’ elements. The investigation scenes, involving the cops Arjun (Priyanshu Painyuli) and Indarjeet (Manurishi Chadha), make for some of the most interesting sequences and that’s because those scenes exist in the original film as well.

Despite having the right intention to spice up an otherwise decent original film, U-Turn’s drastic deviation from its source material leaves the film in no man’s land. The performances of the lead cast particularly don’t help the film which relies more on the tried and tested tropes of the thriller genre. Remakes might feel like safer bets but they come with unique challenges that have to be handled well for the new product to stand on its own. But for reasons unknown, Hindi cinema has been on a remaking spree and in most cases, this hasn’t worked in their favour. Until they take a U-turn from such ideas, we’re going to be bombarded with more remakes that we never asked for.

U-Turn is currently streaming on ZEE5