Ludo (film)

Ludo starts with two people contemplating life and death and they decide to play ludo. The game they play correlates to the lives of Sattu Bhaiya, Akash, Alu and Bittu.

Sattu Bhaiya is a notorious gangster who has to settle old scores with Bittu, who was once his right-hand man. Sattu Bhaiya becomes the dice of Ludo and Bittu forms the red side in Ludo.

Akash and Shruti form the yellow side. They find that someone has recorded a video of their affair and have uploaded it to the Internet. Then they start the race to find the culprit and take down the video before Shruti's would-be husband finds out.

The blue side is formed by Sheeja Thomas and Rahul Avasthi. Sheeja is a Malayali nurse who speaks only Malayalam and Rahul is a struggling young man from a small town being bullied by his boss. They find the treasure of Sattu Bhaiya and the gang chases them and they try to escape.

The green side is formed by Alu and his sweet heart Pinky. Pinky's husband becomes a suspect in a murder case and she seeks help from Alu to save him.

These four stories become entangled in a series of events, leading to an engaging climax where all four sides are present. In a way, they all reach "Home" and win the game.

• Abhishek Bachchan as Batukeshwar “Bittu” Tiwari
• Aditya Roy Kapur as Akash Chauhan
• Rajkummar Rao as Alok “Alu” Kumar Gupta
• Pankaj Tripathi as Rahul Satyendra “Sattu” Tripathi
• Fatima Sana Shaikh as Pinky Jain
• Sanya Malhotra as Shruti Choksi
• Rohit Suresh Saraf as Rahul Awasthi
• Pearle Maaney as Sheeja Thomas
• Inayat Verma as Mini
• Paritosh Tripathi as Manohar Jain, Pinky's husband
• Asha Negi as Asha
• Bhanu Uday as Bhanu
• Shalini Vatsa as Lata Kutty
• Saurabh Sharma as Bhinder
• Geetanjali Mishra as Sambhavi
• Ishtiyak Khan as Inspector Sukumar Sinha
• Aman Bhagat as Shekhar
• Anurag Basu as Narrator Yamraj (Cameo)
• Rahul Bagga as Chitragupta (Cameo)

The film was initially scheduled to release on 24 April 2020.[5] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released on 12 November 2020 on Netflix.[1][6]

The film critics largely gave the film positive ratings. Anupama Chopra, Editor-in-Chief of Film Companion, wrote, "Whatever faults you might find with an Anurag Basu film, lack of invention isn’t one of them. The director creates worlds filled with whimsy and wonder, set to Pritam’s pulsating soundscape."[7] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote, "Still, in this time of corona, the virus finding an honourable mention in the movie, we could do with some fun and games, even if it slackens in bits," praising Basu for using "perky musical interludes" to narrate the story.[8] India Today reviewed the movie positively, calling it 'naram-garam and delicious' which is "out-of-the-box while staying firmly in the box." [9] A review by the Hindustan Times said, "despite its missteps, keeps it breezy, with its cast helping it to stay the course."[10] The Hindu film critic found that "the structure of Ludo written with careful precision and the construct is cleaner," which makes the film 'largely entertaining'.[11] While, The Wire's Tanul Thakur felt that Ludo 'suffers' because Basu is "more interested in the mechanics of this tapestry, the many ways in which the disparate stories intersect and inform each other, as opposed to the tapestry itself: its overarching meaning, its dramatic power, its psychological portraits." [12] Critic associated with the Deccan Herald received the movie as "a big disappointment".[13] The Quint's review of the film said that "the screenplay steers clear of extravagance, which works in its favor." "While the setting may seem fable-like, the emotions they evoke in us are authentic. It might take some time to get used to, but once we understand the spirit of the film Ludo can prove to be a lot of fun."[14]

The film's music was composed by Pritam while lyrics were written by Sayeed Quadri, Sandeep Shrivastava, Tamojit Das, Shloke Lal, and Swanand Kirkire.

• Ludo at IMDb
• Ludo at Bollywood Hungama