Rules Of The Game Review: Aahana Kumra Delivers An Impressive Performance In This Romantic Thriller
From the #ForbiddenLove Anthology, Rules Of The Game is the story of a couple who spice up their marriage with role-play that ultimately goes too far.
Throughout September, ZEE5 released a new anthology of 4 romantic thrillers named Forbidden Love. The first film Arranged Marriage, directed by Pradeep Sarkar tells the story of a a homosexual man pressurised to marry a woman by his family. Anamika is the story of a older married woman who has an affair with a much younger man to escape her loveless marriage. Both the films released earlier this month.
Today the remaining two films Rules Of The Game and Diagnosis Of Love released. The 45-minute film, Rules Of The Game, is directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury starring Aahana Kumra and Chandan Roy Sanyal. This film tells a dark story of a couple who try to make their relationship exciting again with some role-play.
Watch a trailer for the film here.
Priya (Aahana Kumra) is a housewife who has quit her job out of boredom and is looking for any kind of excitement in her life. Gaurav (Chandan Roy Sanyal) is the husband who loves his wife but is struggling to keep her interest and find any love in their relationship. Priya loves reading crimes mysteries and is addicted to games of luck and mind games. When her husband begins to try some risque role-play to get her excited, she treats it like a mind game.
Aahana Kumra is the star of the film. She brings out the increasingly cold and manic state of Priya perfectly over the entire 45 minute film. Chandan Roy Sanyal, as Gaurav, does his best to please his wife but doesn’t really understand what is going on in her mind. Together they share an interesting dynamic where there is always an edge or element of tension during their conversations.
Anindita Bose plays the role of Nisha, who is Priya’s best friend. This friendship is another twisted side story where Priya is tired of seeing Nisha being abused by her husband and now takes almost a guilty pleasure in hearing about her abusive marriage. The story really kicks into action when Priya begins feeling like someone is stalking her.
Aniruddha who created the story and directed this film does a great job of calling your attention to the characters and hooking you in for a shocking climax. The film is about an upper middle class couple from Mumbai who have a big enough house with no kids and the house itself has a lonely vibe to it.
This film and the entire anthology of 4 romantic thrillers, with talented actors like Ali Fazal, Patralekha, Aditya Seal and Raima Sen should definitely be on your weekend watchlist.