'Lord Curzon Ki Haveli' Movie Review: An unique storyline marred by shoddy screenplay and writing

Star cast: Arjun Mathur, Rasika Dugal, Zoha Rahman, Paresh Pahuja & Tanmay Dhanania

Director: Anshuman Jha

In India, the genre of black comedy is still in the nascent stage, with recent examples like Delhi Belly, Kaalakaandi and Blackmail, among others. Actor Anshuman Jha, known for his portrayals in movies like Love, Sex Aur Dhokha, Yeh Hai Bakrapur, Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain and Lakadbaggha among others, has made his directorial debut with Lord Curzon Ki Haveli. While the trailer promised to be an unique affair and created curiosity among the cinegoers, let’s find out whether it impresses the audience or not…

The plot of Lord Curzon Ki Haveli begins with Dr Basukinath (Paresh Pahuja) & his wife, Ira (Rasika Dugal), getting invited by the latter’s friend Sanya (Zoha Rahman) and his boyfriend, Rohit (Arjun Mathur), to their outskirts residence for the party.

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Basukinath, who is weird, sceptical and controlling towards Ira, looks very much apprehensive at the party as Rohit and Sanya try hard to make him comfortable and candid. In the conversation, while Basukinath gets interested and doubtful, he sees a wooden trunk in front of him. Rohit and Sanya say that there is a dead body of Lord Curzon in the trunk, and later claim it as a joke. And what follows next is a mixed bag of revelations along with twists and turns.

While the plot or story might look interesting and unique on paper, it failed to impress because of its shoddy writing and screenplay. Despite having a runtime of only 108 minutes, Lord Curzon Ki Haveli looks long and exhausting because of no or hardly engaging moments, which will keep you hooked.

Talking about the performances, Rasika Dugal is the saving grace of this movie as she truly steals the show with her impeccable portrayal, which is layered and complex. While Arjun Mathur and Zoha Rahman have done a decent job, Paresh Pahuja looked quite a misfit as it seems he was trying too hard to embrace the character.

Anshuman Jha, as a director, has worked well in the technical departments but failed to make an engaging affair due to a weak screenplay.

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)

Lord Curzon Ki Haveli is playing in cinemas