Looop Lapeta Review: Taapsee, Tahir Starrer Time Loop Flick Is Trippy AF And a Worthy Nod To Run Lola Run

Looop Lapeta Review: Taapsee, Tahir Starrer Time Loop Flick Is Trippy AF And a Worthy Nod To Run Lola Run

What I love about entertainment today is the erasure of the language barrier. If you checked out our weekend watchlist, you’d know I am currently obsessing over this Mexican thriller drama called Dark Desire on Netflix. And I wouldn’t ever wish it to be adapted into a Hindi serial. But am I glad that we got a Hindi adaptation for Run Lola Run, a German cult film by Tom Tykwer, which gets an official Hindi remake with Looop Lapeta, directed by Aakash Bhatia and starring Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin. Why so? Well, because I’m sure not a lot of Indian people have watched the OG, or are that familiar with time loop movies and shows other than the other cult classic Groundhog Day or the Netflix series, Russian Doll. And that’s a crime! What’s more, Looop Lapeta feels like a very satisfying homage to its original source material, with its stylised visuals, use of colours, animation, and dialogues that are all callbacks to Lola. At the same time, though, there are plenty of originality, including a touch of Indian mythology, that make this a thoroughly entertaining and competent Bollywood outing.

Looop Lapeta also stars Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Rajendra Chawla, Manik Papneja, Raghav Raj Kakker, Shreya Dhanwanthary and more. The film is written by Dr Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Pedgaonkar, Aakash Bhatia, and Arnav Vepa Nanduri, and produced by Sony Pictures Films India, Ellipsis Entertainment, Aayush Maheshwari. The score is by Rahul Pais and Nariman Khambata, and the songs are by Sidhant Mago, Mayank Mehra, Santanu Ghatak, Rahul Pais and Nariman Khambata. The cinematography is by Yash Khanna, and the film is edited by Priyank Prem Kumar.

 

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What’s Looop Lapeta about?

Savina Borkar aka Savi is a washed-out professional athlete, who has given up on her and her father’s dream because of a leg injury. A life-ending encounter turns into a life-altering one for Savi when she meets Satya, who shows her that taking a chill pill (quite literally) and a shortcut is a better way to live. Savi welcomes this loosening up, and the substances help. That is until she finds out that Satya has a big little gambling problem that often lands him in trouble and one day, finally might cost him his life. When an exchange he is about to make for a scary Goan mafia boss goes wrong, Savi has roughly an hour to save Satya’s laugh by securing 50 lakhs. Can she? Well, not really. So then, is Satya dead? Well, not really! As she reaches what she thinks is the finish line,  the race track is laid fresh again, and Savi’s back at the start line with another chance to win this race against time, albeit if she chooses the right lane to run in!

Also Read: 5 Thought I Had About The ‘Looop Lapeta’ Trailer. Love That Taapsee Pannu Is Saving The Man In Distress!

Looop Lapeta shows utmost reverence to Run Lola Run, but manages to be Indian at heart

If you’ve seen Run Lola Run, then you too, like me must’ve gotten swamped with all the callbacks to the German cult classic, right from how Savi and Satya are dressed, in colours of green and orange, much like the traffic lights we’re familiar with, and the movie title, which abbreviated is actually LoLa. I also thought the movie beginning in the bathroom reminded me of Russian Doll. The film, unlike Lola though, takes some time to establish Savi’s backstory first, instead of jumping right into the fateful phone call that kickstarts this loop. And I think here it takes a tad too long to change gears. But once it does, it holds the pace.

My favourite thing has to be the bit of Indian mythology that’s nicely embedded into the story, which at first, I thought I was very clever to spot but eventually was revealed to be the sub-theme all along. I won’t spell it out, but watch closely, it’s easy to guess. The stories of each of the characters that Savi and Satya encounter on their path is kaafi interesting, and the actors who play them, especially Appu Gappu, as these gatekeepers to salvation who make life harder for our leads, have easily the best story. Ultimately, the moral lessons that each of these characters learns at the end of the story, which is an open-ended one, left me with a smile on my face. The loop is closed well.

Also Read: What To Watch This Week Of February On Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar, SonyLIV And More

 

Director Aakash Bhatia gives the movie a video game-like feel but the stakes could’ve been slightly amped it

The look and feel of Looop Lapeta are much like a video game, and it’s an enjoyable, trippy AF joyride. Once the first loop was up, my mind was racing to figure out just how Savi and Satya would get out of this mess. I wouldn’t say it was unpredictable, but that didn’t make it any less fun because the quick and well-timed humour kept you going. I would love to rewatch the film again, this time more deeply to spot continuity errors, if any, and notice how seamless it all is. But as far as first impressions go, Looop Lapeta stands up. It isn’t as fast as Run Lola Run, and the runtime is longer as well, which does make it feel like a drag in some parts, I’ll admit. A little snipping in the beginning and around the later loops could’ve done the film some good.

Also, and this is a feeling I had since the beginning of the movie, the stakes always felt a little underplayed to me. The sense of urgency, often infused by Tahir’s Satya, feel more comical than life-threatening, which once again gives the movie a lukewarm feel instead of keeping it hot on its toes. I think my biggest misgiving has to be about the jump that Savi makes from being utterly helpless to finally realising what she needs to do. It felt a little vague and too easily come to her. Perhaps a few more loops, shown in a montage, where she’s tried and tested a bunch of ways before realising her mistake, might’ve worked?

The supporting character performances win this race for me!

I think it was the performances that helped the film sail through the slowing down bits. Appu Gappu are my favourite things about this movie! Their sub-plot with their jeweller father Mamlesh is hilarious, and the two often reminded me of Ramesh and Suresh from that 5 Star ad! Taapsee, I think, should really get her own action movie at this point. I know she’s doing so many sports dramas, but yaar, I think it is time. Tahir Raj Bhasin, who it feels is in an OTT loop of my life where every weekend he graces my screens with a new offering, is also great. That mischievous smile of his when he’s about to do some kaand!

Also Read: ‘The Great Indian Murder’ Review: Richa Chadha, Pratik Gandhi Crime Thriller Keeps You Hooked With Unpredictable Twists And Turns

Verdict

Looop Lapeta is refreshing in its style, thoroughly entertaining, and to me feels like a very worthy homage to Run Lola Run with all its nods and hat tips to the film. Watching the movie made me feel like I was on a mission of my own to find little things that could help me crack the code. Taapsee is always a delight to watch on screen, but I believe this film belonged to Tahir Raj Bhasin’s gambling smile, and supporting characters, like Appu Gappu, who cracked me up with their comic timing! Definitely worthy of your time this weekend.

Looop Lapeta is currently looping on Netflix.

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Jinal Bhatt

A Barbie girl with Oppenheimer humour. Sharp-tongue feminist and pop culture nerd with opinions on movies, shows, books, patriarchy, your boyfriend, everything.

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