Ronit J

Stolen (2023) Synopsis:

The five-month-old baby of impoverished tribal woman Jhumpa Mahato is stolen. Two brothers, Gautam and Raman, who witness the kidnapping, try to help her and become embroiled in the complexities of the investigation.

Stolen (2023) Review:

This is one of those rare moments when I went into the film completely blind. All I knew about the film was that two of my favourite film critics loved it. The poster did pique my interest, and seeing all those festival laurels at the beginning of the film further elevated my eagerness to watch this one.

The film opens with a shot of an impoverished mother and her infant daughter sleeping on a railway platform. Promptly, a figure draped in a dark shawl lifts the baby and hurries away. Cue title slate.

What follows is a horribly daunting tragedy of two urbane brothers who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The opening scenes establish the setting and conflicts masterfully. Elder brother Gautam Bansal (Abhishek Banerjee) is waiting for his younger brother Raman (Shubham Vardhan) on the eve of their mother’s wedding. Because his train is late, both of them have already missed her cocktail party. The delays further pile up when Jhumpa (Mia Maezler) accuses Raman of kidnapping her daughter, Champa.

Gautam manages to pacify the riled-up crowd. But their troubles have only just begun.

A Realistically Sinister Drama

Stolen is very evidently a commentary on the social intolerance and anger that have been bubbling in India over the past decade. Unemployed youth with nothing to do cling onto pointless pieces of identity politics, leading groups of bamboo-equipped vigilantes who kill first and don’t even ask questions. And all it takes for the lynch mob to appear is one WhatsApp forward that goes viral within their community.

While on the surface the film remains a mystery about a kidnapping, the constant reminders of socio-economic disparity are what give weight to the film’s story. Jhumpa’s constant lying makes us question the validity of her claims. Despite being the privileged class, we see Raman and Gautam with a sympathetic eye. Two innocents punished for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Gautam and Raman’s privilege is a protective safety barrier behind which they have the luxury of waiting and considering whether they want to help. Jhumpa’s powerlessness manifests in her desperation and near-warrior-like drive to find her daughter. And it doesn’t take long for those facades to shatter as the public’s outcry for justice—no matter how misplaced—fills the screen with a deafening death threat.

From unemployed youth resorting to barbaric vigilantism to illegal surrogacy rackets that the poor resort to because the system has forgotten them, Stolen is a deeply unsettling commentary on the degrading social structures and institutions that once promised a better future.

Confused & Undercooked

There were two particular scenes in the film that broke my immersion. The first was where Gautam and Raman have a very surface-level expository fight that explains why Raman is so hellbent on helping Jhumpa while Gautam just wants to get away.

The second was the first lynch mob chase. While on paper I love the idea, I did not enjoy the execution. Especially in the second half. The chase is too underwhelming to be a thrilling action film. Sadly, it is also too unrealistic to belong in a realistic and compelling thriller. This odd mismatch of treatments made this entire section of the film a boring slog. The film wastes precious time on these scenes, forcing the film to resort to exposition to explain what really happened.

The torture-porn section, where the lynch mob finally catches and beats Gautam to a pulp, is only marginally better than the chase sequence. While the film establishes the fiery atmosphere of such an event masterfully, you can’t help but wonder if this is the right direction for us to head in (for the film, not real life). I felt robbed of a compelling drama and mystery, instead getting a refined version of exploitation films in this segment.

The last 50-60 minutes of the film (the total runtime is 93 minutes) feel like watching a riderless horse just running around. Every single part of the film in isolation is actually an audacious and evocative set-piece. Alas, the sum of its parts ends up as a motley experience that feels confused, directionless, and underdeveloped.

Stolen (2023) Ending Explained (SPOILERS)

Turns out, Jhumpa wasn’t lying. ‘Daya ma’am’ paid her to be a surrogate, but the deal was for just one baby. As is common in IVF procedures, Jhumpa gave birth to two and decided to keep one for herself. Of course, that baby is Champa.

After the police arrive, Gautam and Raman—beaten to a near-death state—are rushed to the hospital. On the way, Gautam notices that the driver is ‘Acchelal’, the same man that Jhumpa claimed is part of the baby kidnapping racket. In the hospital, Gautam rushes to inform someone, while Acchelal realises that the two brothers know about his illegal doings.

Gautam manages to stop Acchelal and the hospital’s head doctor just as they’re bidding farewell to new parents and their adopted baby. Gautam attracts attention and riles up the crowd into a new mob that eventually settles when Jhumpa and the police arrive, and confirm that the baby is Champa.

Jhumpa is last seen with Champa in the back of the police car. Acchelal’s fate is unclear. Knowing the state of corruption, he probably got away scot free. Gautam watches over an unconscious Raman, knowing that there’s still a lot of drama that is to follow in their personal lives. Not only have they missed their mother’s wedding, but they’re probably not free from the bureaucracy and police investigation yet.

Is Stolen (2023) worth watching?

Depends. The first 30-35 minutes of the film are genuinely compelling. The kind of fine, realistic cinema you’d expect to see in a film festival. The rest of it… not really.

While it boldly comments on the worst of society, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at how Stolen was treated in the middle. It went from being a realistic social thriller to a lukewarm action chase torture-porn flick, to an overly expository conclusion that felt underdeveloped. The performances are great. The technical aspects of the film, from the visuals to the camera work, all highlight the makers’ prowess. Sadly, it isn’t enough.

Stolen is a brilliant film when compared to the communally inciting crap films that are declared tax-free to further fascist agendas. But in a perfect world with better films, this movie is just mediocre. It’s only 93 minutes, so maybe Stolen is worth the watch.

In Conclusion:

Stolen (2023) is a compelling concept that suffers from executional negligence. With a little more time spent developing the plot, the film could have actually ended up as a masterpiece.

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Have you watched Stolen (2023)? What did you think about this film? Let me know in the comments below, along with any film recommendations you’d like me to watch/review.

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