David, directed by Bejoy Nambiar, is a terrific film, with the exception of a couple of things. Using three different time and place zones, David shows the stories of Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vinay Virmani and Chiyaan Vikram, the three titular characters. Neil is a right hand of a gangster Ghani in 1975 London, Vinay’s plays a dreadlocked guitarist Bandra boy in 1999 Mumbai and Vikram’s the perpetual drunk in a 2008 Goa.

A major event is about to occur into the lives of these three men, changing their disposition to life forever. Neil’s entire story is shot in black and white, and is it some brilliant shooting or what! Throughout the film, we see some good frame compositions, fresh take on angles and a generally intense feel is achieved.

Tabu is her usual unassuming self, Isha Sharvani and Lara Dutta have smaller roles, Saurabh Shukla may seem entertaining to many, to me he was a tad bit too repulsive, Nasser is convincing as the local Father and Milind Soman appears super hot in his few scenes. The only miscast is Monica Dogra. If Bejoy really wanted a tall, long-faced girl who delivers her dialogue poorly, and that too, in accented Hindi, then he could’ve gone for Katrina Kaif, but I think Monica’s his friend. Speaking of friends, Nikhil Chinappa plays a cameo, all muscular and Hulk-like. That felt weird, after years of seeing an easy on the eye, lanky DJ. Prahlad Kakkar may be an excellent ad-man, but he’s terrible to look at on screen, but he too makes an appearance. Singer Shweta Pandit plays Vinay’s younger sister.

I absolutely loved watching Neil in his shots; for his stride and overall appeal are extremely stylish. Vikram is my newest crush. He’s a seasoned actor, so the act is well in place and endearing, and I loved his styling too. Vinay’s dreadlocks are shown perfectly well, with a bit tied up in the right fashion.

David has several songs, but only a couple of them are with separate video space. Rest others are used as themes or background. My favourite thus far is Rekha Bhardwaj’s version of the Sindhi folk song Mast Kalandar, originally sung by Abida Parveen. David has in interesting mix of singers and composers. Yun hi re is composed by Anirudh; he’s the Kolaveri di guy. Independent musicians such as Ankur Tiwari and Indian bands such as Modern Mafia also offer their talent to the soundtracks. Remo D’Souza comes back after a few years to gives us the Goan classic, Maria Pitache.

Released in Feb 2013.