Kuttey (2023) Movie Ending Explained: Aasmaan Bharadwaj’s Kuttey is a hat-tip to both Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey but falls short of matching the authenticity and conviction of either. The amateurish caper film is undeserving of its stellar cast. It wastes the humongous talent and promise of the crooked plot with a hilarious and childish climax and half-baked storyline. The loud and frequent “Dhan Ta Nan” in the background encores the fond memories of Kaminey but leaves a bitter taste in your mouth upon the revelation of Kuttey’s lack of subtext and political awareness.
Kuttey (2023) Caper Film Connection
The heist or caper film, in which an assortment of thieves pulls off a daring and often intricate robbery, has long been a favorite of audiences in the United States and abroad. Its narrative conventions and underlying psychology are at once obvious and devious. After all, conventional social morality teaches us to frown on theft and deception and reject characters living outside the law. As long as the Motion Picture Production Code had any life left in it, American filmmakers were obliged for a long time to maintain the fiction that crime never pays. The films chosen both challenge and validate those assumptions in ways that are entertaining, mildly subversive, and wholly characteristic of this genre. Films will include The League of Gentlemen, The Asphalt Jungle, Inside Man, Gambit, and The Score.
The director of Kaminey, Vishal Bhardwaj, instructed his entire cast and crew of the film to watch caper classics like Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Pulp Fiction, and True Romance to catch the finer nuances of a caper thriller.” Yet he needed to add all the Bollywood ‘masala’ elements, with romance, songs, dances, etc., being the much necessary ingredients. Bharadwaj managed to incorporate those elements seamlessly inside a caper framework. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes (especially thefts, swindles, or occasionally kidnappings) perpetrated by the main characters in full view of the reader.
The actions of police or detectives attempting to prevent or solve the crimes may also be chronicled but are not the story’s main focus. The caper story is distinguished from the straight crime story by elements of humor, adventure, unusual cleverness, or audacity. Kuttey is hugely inspired by Kaminey, but its debutant director’s aimless perseverance did undo the promise of the cast and plot. Aasman Bharadwaj brings his father into the project, who co-writes the screenplay and dialogue with him, but Aasman never fully trusts his father’s vision. Maybe they don’t share similar sensibilities as well. Thus we see less masala Bollywood and more western homages in the movie that are clearly forced upon the screenplay and don’t suit the plot’s zeitgeist.
Kuttey (2023) Plot Summary & Ending Explained
Kuttey is divided into chapters and masquerades a loaded political tone with its insurgents versus the state tone right from the first interrogation scene. But for the most part, the movie is just about corrupted, cruel, and deceitful cops who, due to many unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, form different groups to intercept and loot a van carrying enormous cash. But from then on, the movie is marinated in randomness and hardly gains momentum due to its awkward jokes and clumsy storytelling. There is a smidgeon attempt at cheeky storytelling as the cops- all apparently kuttey or dogs- growl towards their goal of monetary gain while biting and licking the ass suitably on the way.
Motivations
Gopal is almost an anti-hero in this film, he is a coward, and his loyalty can be bought easily. Once Bhau threatens him, he takes the assignment to kill his former employer in exchange for money, and after he performs the deed, he is caught with the drugs. Gopal and Pajji need to pay 1 Crore to revoke their suspension from the force. Gopal goes to Pammiji to ask for help regarding this, but upon learning that a contingent of ATM money is passing via a deserted road, he decides to loot the money with his troupe. He gets the weapons from Bhau. Pajji is the only cop with conscience in the story, and as he gets framed in a mess created by Gopal, they get into a verbal fight after they learn the amount they need to bribe to revoke the suspension.
Despite being aware of the wrongdoings he has involved him, he faces the inner turmoil of leaving the mess. The circumstances once again drag him to the dark path, as he has to aid Pammiji in looting the same money from the ATM contingent that a private security company is carrying. He gets corrupt once again due to his need for money to save his job. Pammiji is the most frivolous character in the story, and she knows how to manipulate her power and get her way up the ranks. She intimidates Pajji into helping her loot the cash since she needs it to finalize her dream property. She uses the vulnerability of Pajji to get her job done.
Lovely had a traumatic childhood due to her mafia dad Bhau’s interference and wants to elope from her marriage fixed by her father. She is in love with their driver, Danny, and needs money to elope to Canada and start a new life. Lovely and Danny get entangled in the mess when they overhear Gopal’s plan to steal the cash. They both hatch a plan to double-cross Gopal so that they can secure a better life together with that money. And thus, every central character in the movie queues behind the same vehicle carrying the cash over a faithful night of Mumbai rains.
The Climactic Mess
Gopal’s gang of policemen hijack the said vehicle and are faced with gunfire from the security team assigned to protect the money. The gunfire turns brutal when Gopal is injured, and all the policemen helping him die too. The other security officials are also killed, and only one or two remain injured and alive. Gopal’s contentment is short-lived when their vehicle is rammed by Lovely and Danny’s car.
The collision with their car renders Gopal unconscious. Gopal is moved out of the vehicle along with the dead security personnel. Danny and Lovely take charge of the vehicle, and they go off, hoping they can now utilize the money for their purposes from here on. Danny and Lovely are attacked by a sniper when the vehicle again goes off the road. They are now attacked by Pammi, Paaji, and their mates, with whom they plan to loot the money in the vehicle.
As an injured Gopal Towari also reaches the spot, they all come to recognize each other and the fact that they all need money to save themselves from the problems. They have their guns pointed at each other, and there is no discussion on who will get what amount. A multitude faces off with no solution, making them drop their weapons and find shelter at a dilapidated bungalow where they can sort out how the money will be divided. They reach a deadlock when they hear a movement happening close to them. They hide in the dilapidated bungalow, and Paaji recognizes Naxal Laxmi Sharma leading the group toward the bungalow.
Paaji hopes he will be able to rescue them by making Laxmi understand their dilemma. Laxmi plans to rescue Paaji and the gang hiding on his request when Gopal takes a detour and finds machine guns stored at the same place. Gopal hopes the machine gun will help him get rid of everybody and begins laying down indiscriminate gunfire on all of them. The gun battle kills everybody. Gopal murders Pammi, and before that, Pammi kills Lovely. Danny ends up killing the Naxals, and in retaliation, Laxmi kills Danny, and he kills her in the ensuing gunfire. As Gopal tries to run off with the money, Paaji goes to stop him but dies as a block of rock falls on him. An injured Pammi also tries to kill Gopal by blowing up a grenade, but he narrowly survives as the depleted building blows up.
Who wins
Gopal alone makes it alive out of the shoot-out. Though he is devastated by the way everything has settled down, he quickly hides all the boxes of money. He concocts an elaborate story on how Pammiji and Paaji found themselves in the middle of a feud with the Naxals. He says they died at the site of the clash, but he is indebted to them for his own life. After the official statement, he returns back to his normal life and gets his job back.
While Pammiji and Paaji were declared martyrs, Gopal received multiple awards from the Police Force and Government. He’s also been awarded and interviewed on NEWS Channels; he’s even asked to come as a special guest, and then he returns to take that money and is enjoying himself lavishly in Taj Hotel. He has everything he needs, as he has up to Rs. 4 Cr in cash himself.
Unfortunately, while leisurely spending his time in the pool, he hears the Prime Minister’s announcement of implementing nationwide demonetization in November 2016. So that makes all the stolen money valueless since the notes will be null and void soon. Gopal feels helpless and doesn’t know what to make of this situation. In a way, his luck saved his life during the dreaded night of the shoot-out, but in another way, his rotten luck discarded all his labors to commit the perfect crime. Gopal can now enjoy his momentary lavish life till midnight since the notes will not be considered legal tender after that. Thus everybody ends up with nothing, and only Karma has the last laugh.
Related Read: Kuttey (2023) Review: A nonsensically misplaced loud thriller that fails at echoing the promises that once shaped the landscape of mainstream Hindi cinema
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Where to watch Kuttey
