Aakhri Ride
Directors: Vijesh Rajan and Yashoda Parthasarthy
Cast: Chandan Roy
Rating: ★★★.5
What is Aakhri Ride? Is it a horror film about a man’s tryst with a witch, or a satire on the difficulties gig workers face in Mumbai? Or is it simply a short that shows us a mirror, depicting what society has become and what it still is. It is all of the above and none of it. In 24 minutes, Aakhri Ride takes us on a wild ride with our protagonist, showing the good, bad, and ugly of our world without ever sermonising or preaching, and always entertaining.
The premise
Aakhri Ride is the story of Aman, a cab driver in Mumbai. We meet him on a particularly dire day. He needs ₹150,000 for his sister’s dowry. But there is no way he can get a loan. So he reconnects with a scammer friend who suggests he sell the cab he drives and run away. But before he can drop the car to a thief on the outskirts of Mumbai, he must finish one last ride. Sadly for him, the passenger seems to be a witch, complete with a black face, long talons for nails, and a shrieky voice.
A fun, genre-bending experiment
Aakhri Ride may address life’s inequalities and cast a shadow over society’s preconceived notions and prejudices, but it never loses sight of the fact that it is, first and foremost, an entertaining story. The film chooses comedy as the genre to do so. Even when it scares, Aakhri Ride chooses to do so in the most frivolous manner, making you laugh at what the protagonist is facing.
It can do so because Chandan Roy is just so earnest. As Aman, he brings simplicity, helplessness, and industriousness mixed with desperation. And he does all of it without becoming a bechara. He is just one of us, shackled by the conditions life has put on him, trying to make the best of it all. When his boss, the owner of the cab he drives, calls to berate him every now and then, every salaried employee who has been in a toxic workplace at some point becomes Aman too. That is how the film reels you in.
And then when the twist arrives, and the film becomes an ‘anti-horror’, it never feels like a betrayal. Because Aakhri Ride does that honestly, logically, and without losing sight of the rules it has set for the story. It still remains tense, but again, with humour thrown in it, with a rather satisfying, if somewhat all-too-convenient conclusion.
What works
Aakhri Ride takes place in the space of a single night. That creates the urgency needed in the narrative. The shots, largely taken from inside the car, often through rearview mirrors, effortlessly take us into our protagonist’s world. The accompanying music never gets overpowering, and the supporting acts remain just that: good but never overshadowing. It is a crisp story that delivers bite-sized entertainment in a novel manner, without resorting to sermonising. And that, alone, makes it worth a watch.
Aakhri Ride is currently streaming on Oh Short Flips YouTube channel.