Paanch packs punches and kicks: The Times of India

Mumbai, July 29: Anurag Kashyap's Paanch is not for the faint-hearted. This story of five frustrated music band members is an orgy of violence that leaves your senses numb long after the film stops rolling.
The much-abused Censor Board rarely makes news for the right reason. But, when you watch Paanch, you may no longer want to castigate it for kicking a fuss over the film's overdose of violence.

Paanch is the story of five members of music band called Parasites. Luke (Kay Kay) is their de facto leader, who exercises complete command over three guys. The fifth member is debutante Tejaswini Kolhapure as a shrewd woman who sleeps with rich men to get easy money. They hatch a rather innocuous plan to make money. It goes awry and leads to murder. To cover up one crime, they go on a spree. And what you see is raw, untamed animal passion.

Paanch is not an insight into how someone takes to crime. It does not trace a criminal bent to a bad childhood, or even to poverty. The five are struggling to make money, alright, but that's because they are slobs. The film is simply about violence. Like when Luke bleeds his friend to death over an argument. Even though there is no shot of the victim, the ugly side of brutality is reflected on Luke's menacing face and the sound of iron whipped relentlessly on human flesh. You don't cringe. You just go numb.

Kay Kay's acting is the high point. All others are newcomers, but lend credibility to their characters with a good job.

Kashyap's total conviction about the film shows in the cliché-free characterisation. There is no attempt to make the audience sympathise with or hate the Parasites. He tells it like he feels it. But absolute conviction is a double-edged sword. Paanch is more of a director's film, as if he's made it for himself, which is a good thing, but not if your audience disagrees with you.

Paanch is a realistic take on ruthless violence, nothing less, nothing more. The point is whether you have to witness a cold-blooded murder to see how abhorrent it can be.