A still from ‘Toaster’
| Photo Credit: Netflix
When Rajkummar Rao made his mark in films in the early 2010s, he brought in a fierce intensity to roles he touched. His performances combined the grittiness of realism and revelled remarkably within the edges of emotions. Be it the endless passion of a young lawyer in Shahid (2012), the desperation of a fledgling migrant worker in Citylights (2014) or the mild arrogance of being an honest election officer in Newton (2017); Rao represented familiar, everyday faces that were often ignored amidst the noise. The films he did were also not clearly bracketed into a genre and he remained largely a parallel phenomenon. Of late, the actor has diversified his oeuvre into more popular versions. Even though he still fuels with the underdog spirit, as he plays middle-class men in situational comedies, there is little to differentiate. Now, he is not revelatory, but just has a bunch of jokes up his sleeves.His latest dark comedy, Toaster, which also marks his debut as a producer, is no different. Here, he plays a miser, Ramakant, whose unhealthy obsession of saving money makes him do questionable things. Living in a quaint society in Mumbai with his wife Shilpa (Sanya Malhotra), Ramakant keeps record of every penny he spends. So, he is naturally shocked when they are invited to a wedding and Shilpa urges to buy an expensive toaster as a gift. The wedding however, breaks off and Ramakant plans to get back the toaster and return it to the shop. And after a series of misadventures, the toaster no longer remains just an electrical appliance; it hides a dirty secret of a politician.
