David

Bejoy Nambiar had made his debut as a director with Shaitan which I had found to be a brilliant thriller. The film wasn’t a big commercial success due to its small star cast but he made same name for himself as a novel and stylish storyteller. His second outing now with a unique title like David and exciting promos had raised expectations for yet another gripping thriller. Sadly, this one comes across as an awful film with hardly anything to appreciate.
The film is about three different stories set in different eras and cities with the main characters sharing the same name, David. The first one is set in 1975 in London where David (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is the right hand man of a mafia king and his quest to find his true identity. The second one is set in 1999 in Mumbai where David (Vinay Virmani) is a wannabe musician whose life changes due to his religion and politics. The third one is set in 2010 in Goa where David (Vikram) is a fisherman looking to find the love of his life.
While on paper, the idea of this multiple stories getting linked only by a common name and a climax looks exciting, their execution on screen as a film is completely disappointing to say the least. None of these stories make any impact whatsoever due to various glaring flaws. While the first one still has something to offer as a story though even that’s very little, the other two are plain silly and irrational. The second one just keeps going on and on without reaching anywhere and not making much of sense even till the end. And the third one is so annoyingly badly written that you wonder as to what were the writers really trying to create here. The stupidity of David as a character, his falling for his friend’s fiancé, side track of his father’s spirit, his conversations with his mother and a friend, a track of Santa…..everything here is actually shockingly absurd. The dialogues of all stories are weird, there is no thrilling moment, few sequences get unintentionally funny and climax is completely stupid and links the stories only for the heck of it. On top of it, the pace of film is agonizingly slow.
In terms of performances, everyone is just about ok….the stories are so boring that you hardly bother about anyone’s performance. If at all, you feel pity about a super talented Tabu who has reduced to playing such insignificant idiotic characters now.
With running time of two and a half hours and a pace that makes it seem double its time, this one is test of your patience and sensibilities. Cinema Analyst's Take – Dreadful And Very Irritatingly Disappointing.