‘Toaster’ movie review: Rajkummar Rao shoulders a laborious dark comedy

When Rajkummar Rao made his mark in films in the early 2010s, he brought in a fierce intensity to roles he touched. His performances combined the grittiness of realism and revelled remarkably within the edges of emotions. Be it the endless passion of a young lawyer in Shahid (2012), the desperation of a fledgling migrant worker in Citylights (2014) or the mild arrogance of being an honest election officer in Newton (2017); Rao represented familiar, everyday faces that were often ignored amidst the noise. The films he did were also not clearly bracketed into a genre and he remained largely a parallel phenomenon. Of late, the actor has diversified his oeuvre into more popular versions. Even though he still fuels with the underdog spirit, as he plays middle-class men in situational comedies, there is little to differentiate. Now, he is not revelatory, but just has a bunch jokes up his sleeves.

His latest dark comedy, Toaster, which also marks his debut as a producer, is no different. Here, he plays a miser, Ramakant, whose unhealthy obsession of saving money makes him do questionable things. Living in a quaint society in Mumbai with his wife Shilpa (Sanya Malhotra), Ramakant keeps record of every penny he spends. So, he is naturally shocked when they are invited to a wedding and Shilpa urges to buy an expensive toaster as a gift. The wedding however, breaks off and Ramakant plans to get back the toaster and return it to the shop. And after a series of misadventures, the toaster no longer remains just an electrical appliance; it hides a dirty secret of a politician.

A still from ‘Toaster’
| Photo Credit:
Netflix

It is a classic setup for a comedy of chaos and the film delivers on the laughs while making some fairly straightforward choices in the screenplay. The humour is dependent largely on Rao and his exciting delivery of lines as the first half focuses on him getting back the toaster while hiding all his moves from Shilpa, who smells foul play and soon starts a parallel investigation. The writing remains perfunctory, operating within safer zones, using the humour not to add meaning to the plot but only stretch the joke about Ramakant’s stinginess. It does lead to some crackling moments, like the speech he makes during the funeral of his house owner, lying about having discussed with her about reducing his rent. Or another moment of absurdity between Abhishek Banerjee’s stoner character, who fails to recognise a burqa-clad Ramakant trespassing his house to steal the toaster.

Through all the laughs and chaos however, there is little to stay invested in Ramakant. As the film almost falls apart after a perverse twist in the mid-point, there is nothing much left to revive it. Even Rao’s antics become predictable to witness after a point as he tries to bring everything together. The films seems to have no say under its layer of humour; there is nothing to hold onto when the laughs die down. Set in Mumbai, which could have lent itself quite well to underline the miserly traits of Ramakant, the film chooses instead to ignore the setting and go for a more generic outplay.

A still from the film
| Photo Credit:
Netflix

And so, it relies on the credibility of its ensemble for relevance. Sanya Malhotra doesn’t get much to do with her character as she is designed to have lesser stake in the story. Abhishek Banerjee packs a delightful punch in an extended guest appearance while Farah Khan plays a part of herself that doesn’t quite land effectively amidst all the mess. On the other hand, Archana Puran Singh gets a meaty role and she remains satisfying in the myriad tonal shifts her character is made to take, by which time Toaster already starts to lose much of its sheen.

It also doesn’t help that the visual grammar of the film is unceremoniously Netflix-coded, with the generic tints of blue and yellow perforating the frame, taking away any sense of realism and revelling only in an extended feeling of plasticity. After a point then, even the novelty of its original idea disappears. The film’s second half could very well have been part of Rao’s another plotty comedy, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, as even there his character was running after a notorious video clip. Earlier, it was the actor’s ability to slip into characters and their worlds that brought newer shades of him on-screen. But now, things have been readily homogenised. The cinema of Rajkummar Rao has diversified and how. We have left behind the shimmer of an actor for the comforts of a star.

Toaster is currently streaming on Netflix