Chup: Revenge of the Artist

Story:

Chup: Revenge of the Artist is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film written and directed by R. Balki. Produced by Hope Production, it stars Dulquer Salmaan, Sunny Deol, Shreya Dhanwanthary and Pooja Bhatt in lead roles. The film, set in Mumbai, focuses on how a serial killer targets corrupt film critics and a police officer is assigned to catch the killer. Chup was released on 23 September 2022 to positive reviews from critics.

PLOT

In Mumbai, a film critic named Nitin Srivatsav is found dead at his residence, where IG Arvind Mathur is assigned to investigate the case. Arvind deduces that the killer mutilated Nitin’s body with a surgical knife and drew a symbol on his forehead, which he is unable to decipher.

Danny is a florist who meets Nila Menon, an entertainment reporter, and the two fall for each other. A few days later, another film critic, Irshaad Ali, is also found dead with his body being crushed under a train. Meanwhile, Danny and Nila grow close. Danny surprises her on her birthday, which happens to fall on the same day as the birth anniversary of famous actor and director Guru Dutt. He gifts her “Kaagaz Ke Phool” (Flowers made of paper). After a week, another film critic, Parikshit Prabhu, is found dead in a cricket stadium with his body parts and organs removed and scattered around. Arvind deduces that the killer reads the reviews written by the critics and targets only those who give negative reviews to films.

Arvind summons all the major film critics in Mumbai and ask them to cooperate in their investigation, but they refuse, fearing for their lives. The next day, another critic, Govind Pandey, is found dead and it is revealed (to the audience) that the killer was none other than Danny. Pandey had given a positive review to a mediocre film, as the film’s makers had paid him money to do so. Danny brutally killed him, mutilating his body and painting the walls with his blood. After this, Arvind is provided a two-week deadline to solve the case, where he takes the help of a criminal psychologist, Zenobia Shroff. Zenobia suggests that the killer might have a connection with the film industry.

Arvind soon checks the list of film directors, who retired after their films were panned by film critics and tanked at the box office, where they learn about Guru Dutt, whose last film Kaagaz Ke Phool was panned by critics. Realizing that the killer is connected to Guru Dutt, Arvind decides to catch him by asking some critics to post their reviews in the same way like the previous critics, but they all refuse. Nila is asked to review a newly released film, to which she reluctantly agrees. Later, Danny reads Nila’s review and, finding it dishonest and uninformed, gets enraged. He kidnaps and tries to kill Nila, but Arvind saves her and arrests Danny.

Later, the police finds a cassette named Chup and finds that the film is actually Danny’s biopic. Danny’s real name was Sebastian Gomes, and he was a fan of Guru Dutt since childhood. Sebastian’s father used to physically abuse his mother and had killed his dog, also named Danny. Having grown up, Sebastian punished his father, by locking him inside the room, killing him, and later, his mother died as well. After this, Sebastian wrote and directed the film Chup, which was panned by critics, which led Sebastian to become mentally scarred and he becomes a serial killer, punishing the critics who give dishonest reviews to films. Chup later gets recognition and is regarded as a masterpiece just like Kaagaz Ke Phool.