Stolen‘s
crisp
running
time
and
Abhishek
Banerjee’s
metamorphosis
from
callous
to
crusader
ensure
the
stark
bits
duly
haunt
and
horrify, observes
Sukanya
Verma.
In
a
country
bursting
at
its
seams,
where
dissatisfaction
is
a
perennial
feeling
among
the
underclass
and
prospect
is
solely
reserved
for
the
privileged,
sanity
hangs
by
a
thread.
And
when
all
hell
does
break
loose,
it’s
not
just
those
numb
to
the
pain
of
being
brushed
off
but
even
the
blameless
that
will
find
themselves
crushed
under
the
aftermath
of
blind
rage.
There’s
no
justifying
mob
lynching.
There’s
no
understanding
it
either.
What
triggers
a
large
group
of
people
to
attack
a
single
person,
in
most
cases
not
guilty
of
the
alleged
crime,
and
unleash
their
dormant
animal
and
defend
it
as
justice?
Fear?
Hate?
Politics?
All
these
terms
are
beginning
to
sound
the
same
as
the
world
grows
more
and
more
volatile
in
its
dealings.
First-time
director
Karan
Tejpal’s
thriller
dwells
gently
on
the
topic
inspired
from
real
events
that
transpired
in
Assam
not
too
long
ago.
Back
in
2018,
a
sound
engineer
and
his
entrepreneur
friend
became
fatal
targets
of
mob
lynching
caused
by
social
media
panic
that
led
the
village
folk
of
Karbi
Anglong
district
to
assume
they
were
a
pair
of
child
lifters.
Armed
with
his
battery
of
frequent
long
take
(shot
by
Isshaan
Ghosh)
and
actors
capable
of
becoming
one
with
the
background,
Tejpal
and
co-writers
Gaurav
Dhingra
and
Swapnil
Salkar
capture
the
harrowing
journey
of
a
pair
of
brothers
out
of
the
frying
pan
and
into
the
fire.
Gautam
(Abhishek
Banerjee),
the
older
one,
couldn’t
care
less
about
what
goes
on
within
the
fringes
of
society.
He’s
distracted
by
his
mother’s
wedding,
not
realising
the
logistic
nightmare
he’s
resolving
on
the
phone
is
nothing
compared
to
the
heartland
horrors
that
lie
ahead.
Though
no
less
urban
in
his
existence
and
privileges,
younger
brother
Raman
(Shubham
Vardhan
packs
in
a
mix
of
gullible
and
humane)
harbours
empathy
for
the
subjugated
lot.
At
the
receiving
end
of
one
brother’s
sympathy
and
another’s
suspicion
is
a
woman
(a
stormy
Mia
Maelzer),
who
has
lost
her
five
month
old
baby
at
the
railway
platform
of
a
fictional
remote
region
that
looks
like
Rajasthan
(filmed
in
Pushkar)
and
feels
like
Haryana.
It’s
also
where
the
kidnapping
drama
kicks
off
in
the
wee
hours
of
the
night
that’s
dragged
through
all
of
the
next
day.
More
than
police
brutality,
it’s
the
arrogance
exhibited
by
the
men
in
khaki
that
complicates
a
crisis,
knowing
there’s
no
means
to
contain
misinformation
spreading
like
wildfire.
Reminiscent
of
NH10
in
its
belief
of
how
quickly
things
can
go
south
and
unsettling
degree
of
threats
popping
around
from
every
corner
of
a
seemingly
sleepy
village,
it’s
the
volatile
energy
of
the
narrative
as
the
brothers
find
themselves
scrambling
for
survival
that
lends
Stolen
its
anxiety
and
heft.
As
confident
his
filmmaking
is,
Tejpal’s
enthusiasm
for
dark
revelations
and
questionable
impulses
often
result
in
a
shift
of
tone
that
goes
from
a
run-for-your-life
thriller
to
sudden
slice-of-morality
amidst
surrogacy
scams
and
awakened
conscience.
Mostly
though,
it’s
the
vaguely-established
history
of
estranged
ties
between
Gautam
and
Raman
and
their
mother’s
remarriage
that
fails
to
add
any
layers
to
the
storytelling.
Nevertheless,
Stolen‘s
crisp
running
time
and
Abhishek
Banerjee’s
metamorphosis
from
callous
to
crusader
—
even
when
the
writing
hinges
on
contrived
—
ensure
the
stark
bits
duly
haunt
and
horrify.
Stolen
streams
on
Amazon
Prime
Video.
Stolen
Review
Rediff
Rating:
