Director & Writer: Amit Ashraf
Cast: Shahed Ali, Shakeel Monir Ahmed & Nawshaba Ahmed
Length: 90 minutes (approximately)
Strength: Technically sound cinematography, editing, background music and cliff-hanging twists
Weakness: Incomprehensive scripts & dialogues
Star Showbiz Rating: 2.5 out of 5

PLOT: A school-van pedaler turned bounty hunter catches his biggest pray in a tale of violence, betrayal and repentance in the drama/thriller film Udhao. Directed by Amit Ashraf, the film tells a story of a school-van driver named Babu (played by Shahed Ali), who is also known as Robin Hood for his philanthropic deeds. One day, he comes across a political rally of a group of attendees supporting the next state senatorial candidate Akbar (Shakeel Monir Ahmed). Babu, being overly intrigued, stalks Akbar to track his whereabouts and makes a ploy to abduct the wealthy underworld mob leader turned politician. When everything goes according to plan, Akbar finds himself held captive in Babu's school-van as they set out on a journey.
REVIEW: Udhao has truly awe-inspiring stunts and cinematography; the editing and background music are exhilarating. A great mix of sentimentality and bone-cracking violence, this drama/thriller hybrid portrays both ends of the spectrum of good and evil. All throughout the journey that Akbar and Babu embark on, it seems as though Babu holds a grudge against Akbar. The way Babu repeatedly belittles him, accusing him to have no humanity is downright hilarious. The lead actress Nawshaba Ahmed played the role of an introverted sex worker and she delivered well. However the movie could use more zing in its script writing. The dialogues could be catchier. The two leading roles Akbar and Babu did not have the right chemistry to draw the audience. The plot fell apart about half way through the movie and it became very apparent where the story was heading. Part of the storyline was unrealistic, for example it's not practically possible to give someone direction using koi fish. It's highly likely that a street dog would pick it up and eat it in a blink of an eye. Chomp chomp! However, Udhao has all the attributes of a guilty pleasure – the cliffhanging twists, the unconventional storyline and suspense sequences make it is a good watch.

Reviewed by Khan Nahida Moushumi