Freddy: Kartik Aaryan's Performance Anchors This Darkly Twisted Thriller

Primary Star Cast: Kartik Aryan, Alaya F, Sajjad Delafrooz

Director: Shashanka Ghosh

Producer:  Ekta Kapoor, Jay Shewakramani

Story: Parveez Sheikh

Duration: 2 hours 13 minutes

Language: Hindi

A wicked view of love, loneliness, and wrath. In the psychological thriller Freddy, the player and the one who is being played engage in a risky game of cat and mouse. The distinction between the victim and the villain is hazy in this race.

Dr. Freddy Ginwala (Karthik Aaryan), who is burdened by childhood trauma, leads a very routine yet comfortable life in Mumbai. He is an established dentist but he is also a lonely man in his 30s without a family. He yearns for companionship because he has no lovers, parents, or pals but a tortoise. His need is almost desperate because he is repeatedly shunned on dates, mocked and humiliated for his social awkwardness, and stigmatized for trying his luck with women. Freddy is viewed as a loser despite his career achievement and compassion for those in need.

He looks hard for a soul mate but he still has no luck. Kainaaz Irani, a married lady trapped in a violently abusive marriage, enters this lonely introvert's life. Freddy falls for her hard and the story begins a series of unending acts of revenge.  

What I found personally unusual in this movie was Kainaaz’s character. If she can be the vamp she was portrayed in the movie to be then why would she tolerate domestic violence? It doesn’t seem rational to me. Somehow, the movie also sends the message of women being gold diggers as Kainaaz’s only motive to marry Rustom was to own his restaurant. Women don’t need a bad marriage to achieve a certain dream of theirs. The plot could have been better. If Kainaaz had a certain background story as Freddy’s character had for childhood trauma then this story would have made better sense

The tale's second half becomes a little predictable, but the movie still maintains its momentum. The conversations are iffy and have no effect.

For Freddy, Kartik's transformation is especially deserving of praise. He is flawless, completely immerses himself in this role, and doesn't leave it for even the slightest amount of time, gaining 14 kg, adopting the mannerisms of an introvert, learning the skills of a dentist, and emoting joy, grief, love, and lust with such intensity. He speaks more with his expressions, eyes, and gestures than real words, which is one aspect of his on-screen representation that I found particularly endearing. Interesting scenes occur when he is with his turtle best friend, Hardy. Also, he has a confidante in Persis aunty, who follows up on him constantly and protects him from unpleasant memories.

While somewhat engrossing and disturbing, Freddy struggles to go completely out. Despite a promising beginning, the movie falls short of its full potential. It briefly discusses topics like mental health, childhood trauma, and its effects on an individual when these topics deserved a further look. However, you may watch this to see Kartik's gutsy endeavor, which was successful.