Rog meaning “malady”, is a 2005 Hindi Bollywood film starring Irfan Khan and Ilene Hamann, directed by Himanshu Brahmbhatt, written by Mahesh Bhatt and produced by Pooja Bhatt.Its plot is based on the Hollywood suspense thriller Laura.If nothing, the movie is worth for the Irfan Khan.Father-Daughter Bhatt have embarked on a mission to ensure Film-Noir is a set genre for Bollywood audience. Jism, Murder and a few other movies of theirs are adaptations of Hollywood movies from years ago. ROG is one of the better movies they have produced, and most of it’s credit goes to a brilliant performance by Irfan Khan. I am not exaggerating when I say he is the worthy successor to Naseeruddin Shah in the ease with which he slips into any role he portrays. This movie follows the murder investigation of a beautiful model, Maya Solomon, by ’super-cop’ Inspector Uday Rathore (Khan) who suffers from mild-insomnia.

While conducting the investigation and piecing together the past of the model, the cop starts falling in love with the image of the dead woman; all the while trying to find her killer. With a cast of a few extras (including a loud ‘accented’ confused-desi), none of the other performances are worth note. Yet, the movie itself is well made (a proper script, whoa!) with a beautiful score (M.M Kreem) and a brilliant lead performance. The twists (save one) are a little predictable, but the presentation is a revelation for a low-budget Indian movie. Kudos to the director Himanshu Brahmbhatt for a job well done (he is Mahesh Bhatt’s AD from the Gumrah & Sadak). If nothing, the movie is worth for the Irfan Khan alone. I have set myself up to watch any movie this man stars in. Oh, and the music is awesome.

A film that does not acknowledge its debt to the 1944 film noir classic ‘Laura’, Rog offers many surprising departures from Preminger’s style of story-telling. Not all of these departures improve on ‘Laura’ though, in fact ‘Rog’ simply makes one (re)appreciate the vintage- effect of Preminger’s piece. The one saving grace is Irrfan, who is completely capable of re-inventing the noir detective with his minimalist style of acting. Yet he is made to portray a forlorn, pill-popping, Michael Douglas- like cop. The subtleties of the Dana Andrews character disappear and Rog literally “fleshes out” the psychological subtext of Preminger’s ‘Laura’. Ilene Harmann is no match for the vivacious, talented Gene Tierney by the simple qualification that Tierney can act. In any case, watch Rog and then “Laura” to appreciate the art of someone like Preminger.

Video Source: DVD
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Chapters: 8

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