Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, ‘Trapped’ features Rajkummar Rao as Shaurya who is a simple-living-pure-vegetarian travel agency employee in Mumbai.He lives in a shared apartment with a bunch of bachelors. His life takes a twist when he falls in love with an office colleague Noorie (Geetanjali Thapa) and they plan to settle down in a new apartment. Shaurya finds an empty flat on the 35th floor of a newly constructed building named ‘Swarg Apartment’ (sarcastic to the story, isn’t it?), which has a deaf watchman. But, Shaurya never anticipated that this high-rise building will turn into a killing montage for him. Unknowingly, he gets trapped inside his flat and the key is left outside the door. He is stranded without electricity, water and food for a complete week and vows not to die in this flat anyhow! Rajkummar Rao simply is a magician when it comes to acting, and he knows his craft pretty well. The way he has essayed the role of Shaurya who is a helpless man and dodges his religious beliefs/ practices to survive, it will really give you chills. The shots are thoughtfully framed and it’ll keep you glued till the end. The film has many disturbing scenes and the very feeling of being locked-down in an empty flat will scare the breath out of you for sure. Go for the film if you really are looking for a fresh genre and if you are a fan of Rajkummar Rao!
Big cities can turn into a dystopian reality at will. It can squeeze, bruise and leave you scarred for life if you don’t act on time. Fortunately in Trapped, the gritty survivor shows the willingness to rise and shine. Little does Shaurya know that the first day in his new home is going to be the longest of his life, and if he doesn’t get help on time then it may very well be his last. Why? Because the front door to the flat is accidentally locked and he is trapped inside. His phone has conked off and faulty wiring has made the electricity trip. So what’s the big deal about it? He can always ask for help. Well, director Vikramaditya Motwane answers all our queries one by one. It’s this feeling of being lonely and left-out that makes Trapped a scary experience. Motwane has a minimalist approach and he allows the audience to hold on to a particular idea or emotion. His framing allows us to come near the subject and feel the anxiety. Rao and the camera cross each other so many times that you feel as if you are watching Shaurya’s ordeal from close quarters. Motwane and Rao form a lethal team that keep us hooked for 102 minutes, quite easily. Trapped is unique because it’s unlike any other one-room drama. It remains a personal story, more like a leaf out of Shaurya’s life than a cinematic celebration of a survivor. Trapped is a defining film for Motwane who has become braver in using small spaces and silence. It’s the beginning of a style that we must see in his next films. No interval release is going to make you understand Trapped better.
Trapped. The word is onomatopoeic. You know what it means. You know the feeling. You know the helplessness. So when a man is trapped in his own house, without food, water or electricity, how does he survive? Director Vikramaditya Motwane gives Bollywood a fantastic albeit loopholed survival thriller in Trapped. It feels a bit weird to realise that as a director, Motwane is just two-films old... even though both of them (Udaan and Lootera) were artistic marvels in themselves. In Trapped, Motwane carries forward the legacy he seems to have inherited from the Anurag Kashyap school of filmmaking. The director's efforts shine through in every frame, in every sigh that his protagonist takes, in every moment that the viewer sits trapped inside the theatre with his/her gaze constantly travelling to the glowing EXIT sign. Trapped makes you feel trapped, but not in the way an MSG film would make you. In Trapped, Motwane captures an entire panoply of emotions on Rao's face. Rao goes from irritation to anger to helplessness to fear, dangling between hope and despair, and clutching on to dear life. There are many close-ups of Rao's face, and he nails nearly all of them. Besides the mostly taut story, Trapped relies heavily on its lead actor. And Rao throws his lot with the film. He does a fabulous job as Shaurya, adding another feather to his already-decked cap. The runtime of the film works in its favour. In less than 2 hours, your patience levels are fine. The absence of songs makes sure the pace of Trapped is not hampered. Watch Trapped this week. Be thankful that you have the option of opening a door and getting out. And make sure you double-check the locks before that door shuts and you're, well, you know.
The trouble with Trapped, in which Rao is practically a solo act, is that it is uneven. There are not enough genuinely scary heart-in-mouth moments. Shaurya’s despair stays mostly on the surface: we see his jeans getting loose, his ribs starting to show, the grime collecting on his body, but I wanted to see more of the soul. Rao is more than capable of stripping down to the essentials, and showing us the truth, which is why he is such a powerful actor. Here I couldn’t see enough of his insides. Trapped also has a powerful philosophical sub-text: can you be completely isolated in a crowd? You don’t have to be physically trapped within four walls to feel alone: you could be in a vast crowd, and see peoples’ eyes graze over you, not registering you, the essence of you. That is true horror. In the film’s best moments, the supremely talented Rao gets us to feel just that. Rao shares the film’s other really fine passage with a furry creature he starts out being terrified of: his being able to walk past his terror, and share his feelings out loud, tells us just how communication can make even the blackest hours better. You wish there were more of these moments. Given Motwane’s skills at creating emotions, and Rao’s ability to channel them, Trapped doesn’t take us as far over the edge it could, or should have.
‘Trapped’ centres on one man’s fight for survival. He is not on a deserted island (‘Cast Away’) or an isolated canyon (‘127 Hours’) or an ocean (‘Life of Pi’) but in a Mumbai apartment, right in the middle of a crowded street. Vikramaditya Motwane’s brilliance lies in turning this unsuspecting setup into a hellish playground. Driving this one-man show is a terrific Rajkummar Rao, who allows the film to solely feed on his character’s despair. His ability as an actor to portray this ordeal is astounding. Geetanjali Thapa is pleasant. However, given the nature of the story, ‘Trapped’ does test your patience after a while. You also doubt the protagonist’s intelligence and sanity. Why would you rent a flat from a dubious agent, in an empty building? A few occurrences seem implausible. How come even fire doesn’t draw any attention? Nonetheless, the mounting tension makes you overlook these flaws and a bloated run time. ‘SH** happens’!