‘Tu Yaa Main’ Review: This Adarsh Gourav-Shanaya Kapoor Croc-Horror Struggles With Its Own Coolness

It will be a while before our odd couple – up-and-coming rapper/hustler ‘Flowpara’ Maruti Kadam (Adarsh Gourav) and self-assured influencer ‘Ms Vanity’ Avani Mehta – have their meet-cute. It will have to wait as another story plays out before that, which is a ‘meet brute’ between village belle Sulochana (Amruta Khanvilkar) and a scaly beast that needs ‘no hand’ from us for an introduction.

But director Bejoy Nambiar decides you need an extended introduction to his lead pair, because… that’s just how we roll in these parts. And so, the adaptation of Ping Lumpraploeng’s 2018 Thai creature horror ‘The Pool’ (sitting pretty at 90 minutes), bloats into a 145-minute slick flick that ticks all the right boxes for the most part.

A poster boy for the ‘gully boys’ living on the fringes of Mumbai, Maruti from Nallasopara, is the man with a plan. His ragtag entourage lives by every rhyme he spouts and is possibly all the hype he needs. Avani (possibly from Andheri) is deeply aware of her fame and privilege and doesn’t hesitate to use it to her advantage. But her only coterie is her judgmental sister and brother-in-law and a manager, Lyra (Parul Gulati).

It gets to the point they decide on a “collab”. A professional ‘friends with benefits’ situationship, if you will. Neither wants commitment and they’re happy finding their calm in a city that thrives on chaos. 

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Of course, no love story is bereft of conflict. Which inevitably crops up in their seemingly solid agreement. They ‘storm’ out of the city on a motorbike and enroute to Goa, have a breakdown and are forced to take refuge at the Konkan Bay Marine Scuba Diving Center. This is where the decrepit pool, the setting for the guts-and-gore that’s the central premise of the film, exists. And that’s where our story actually takes off. 

There’s no denying that Gourav and Kapoor make for an interesting pairing visually. He plays the ‘poor boy wannabe with a good heart’ part with a lived-in ease. She has an author-backed ‘poor little rich girl with gumption’ part earmarked for a star-making turn. And as the film wears on, you come to realize that the gumption sometimes translates into foolhardiness.

You see Remy Dalai’s visual yet metaphorical storytelling not bothering to fight for attention, but rather commands it. The consistently good colour grading (hat doff to digital intermediate by Bridge Postworks and post-production by The Post Co) ensures that the city is shown exactly like it would in the monsoons – washed clean and in a hue of verdant green. This film has you believe that Mumbai looks better when it’s wetter, even with the blues and neon splashes that just pop. I’d like to say you’ve never seen Mumbai like this on film and that’s because everything just comes together as a whole. 

What really works for this film is that unwavering attention to detail when it comes to visual storytelling. The colours pop (outfits and general colour palette) when Maruti and Avani are in the city and happy together but are moody and often muted, when they’re morose and leave Mumbai. You sense that she finds calm underwater while he cannot swim and does his best work while perched on his terrace in his slum.

The sound design (Dawn Vincent) and mixing (Shree Balaji Studios, Mumbai) are second to none with the sights and sounds crystal clear not just in the cacophonies but also the lows and even the silences. The soundtrack featuring the likes of 7Bantaiz and Sez On The Beat is also quite at home in TYM. And usually with so much at play sonically, a background score usually gets lost in it all. Not in the hands of Prateek Rajagopal. He creates an atmospheric soundscape that just enhances the whole movie-watching experience. 

Himanshu Sharma’s story is somewhat functional, though. Embellished with Abhishek Arun Bandekar’s informed referencing throughout, with crocs at the crux of it all, it is there, but goes nowhere. The reiterations on the film’s title feel like a promotional reel within the film and could’ve been done without. Not cutesy at all. A few standout lines do exist though. 

A lot of ‘throwaways’ are peppered throughout. There is foreshadowing that doesn’t really land sometimes. Several scenes (and subplots that become afterthoughts) just could’ve been done without. You have older songs either remixed or synced and feel slightly out of place without really saying anything. Remarkably, though, Nambiar avoids several standard tropes of the genre and that swerves this film from the pitfalls of predictability.

But of course, you did come for the croc. And that’s lurking mostly in the second half. The blood-and-gore is reserved for that part of the film.  

As much as that 145-minute runtime irks you, you get it. You’re on board with Nambiar’s vision all the way to the intermission and a bit beyond as well, if I’m being honest. But films of TYM’s ilk work better with tighter pacing. It already does a lot right. If only the self-indulgence could’ve been reined in… 

To quote Maruti and his bestie Fabric (Ansh Vikas Chopra), “Itna sab chamki-pinky karne ke baad bhi jama nahi, better ho sakta tha” (After doing our best, could’ve been better). I concur!