'The Last Act' – a combination of 12 short stories, linked to each other and hailing from different parts of the country, may sound thrilling, but the final product has a disappointing student film appeal.

What's it about?
'The Last Act' is the result of Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra and Chakri Tholeti's ambitious project that aimed to help aspiring filmmakers from all parts of the country to make a short film. The film starts with a crime scene in Mumbai where a mangled corpse is found with 12 clues, each of which takes you to a different city.

While a cell phone is traced all the way to Delhi, an English tuition pamphlet smeared in blood takes the audience to Ghaziabad. Collecting clues from 12 different places namely, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kalyan, Pune, Ghaziabad, Gwalior, Chandigarh, Hisar, Lucknow and Kolkata becomes a little exhausting for the viewers, as the common thread connecting them together sometimes appears to be non-existent. Strictly from the point of view of a commercial audience, the film's narrative leaves you disappointed. The theatre troupe, that travels to all the cities where these clues will be found, keeps you at the edge of your seat for a while, but the novelty wears off once the marathon reel of short films takes over.

Only a few stories out of the dozen (Asmit Pathare, Nitin Bhardwaj, Nijo-Rohit, Anurag Goswami) imbibe the spirit of the idea and arouse an element of interest. The camerawork, background score and even subtitles show that these amateur directors have a long way to go.

What to do?
We’ve chosen not to rate ‘The Last Act’, simply because the film showcases amateur talent that needs to be honed before it can be critiqued alongside other commercial releases. Watch it only to support a bunch of budding filmmakers. 

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