Netflix Ghoul Review: What Screenplays are capable of
To start with the blog contains spoilers, so if you've not seen Ghoul and are proceeding, well, I warned you!
It is always a delight to watch a good script or rather a good Screenplay. Be it a drama or a sci-fi or some fantasy, good screenplays are rare and that is why they should be cherished.
To understand Ghoul more as a screenplay we need to go according to the classic THREE ACT structure and then we can know exactly 'Why?' it is a great screenplay.
ACT 1 - The Set Up
The set up is modern India in it's Socio-Political and Nationalist dilemma, and due to this situation, our protagonist Radhika Apte's character Nida Rahim falls into an emotional conflict of getting her own father arrested, who is a fundamentalist and has his own ways of solving problems. He keeps reminding her that he's not happy with his government and the system is corrupt.
Hence, he ends up in a detention center to testify himself as not guilty.
How the Screenplay works:
Also in this part, we are getting familiar with other characters, locations their relationship and (the most important) their vulnerability.
By the end of this act, we are introduced to Ghoul or the antagonist of the story.
Act 2 - Confrontation
This is the part where we are introduced to the difference that Ali Saeed (the antagonist) and Ghoul are two different things.
We also grow more into another character's journey and that is Capt. Sunil Dacunha, a decorated officer, a father and a husband with a drinking habit, that causes him a mutiny in the next episode. The role is played by Mr. Manav Kaul.
We here also learn that the arrested person is not normal and is sustaining pains beyond human tendencies.
How the Screenplay works:
Nida here in this ACT is constantly trying to prove her credibility while discovering that the person imprisoned is not actually a human being but something beyond.
She becomes sure is when she sees him rise back from the dead and recover.
The challenges to the protagonist are:
1. Educate herself and others about whatever this thing is, and
2. To escape this place safely.
Towards the end of this ACT, we are still in limbo of 'is it a human?' or 'is it a devil?'
We for sure know it's not a human but now we have to get some more answers.
As the last resort to make Ali Saeed speak a giant of a man is called and his name is Faulad Singh.
Jaisa Naam Waisa Kaam...Faulad Singh (Mr. Hulk).
ACT 3 - Resolution
Have you seen The Avengers (2012)?
What is Loki's plan when he gets captured on the Helicarrier, that big flying aircraft carrier of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
To unleash the greatest beast on board, hence HULK, but why?
To make the entire thing to go into a self-destruction mode. Remember?!
Similarly when we are relying on Faulad Singh, at the same time Ghoul is waiting for him to acquire his body.
A Maulana (one of the prisoners) who knows about Ghoul, explains it to Nida and we immediately discover that Faulad Singh is dead and Ghoul has now shapeshifted into Faulad Singh.
Higher the stakes, higher the tension.
But with this, the story takes an interesting turn, now Ghoul can be anybody or, for the story, anyone can be Ghoul.
Brilliant. Isn't it?!
A gruesome game begins and we do not know now who's going to be Ghoul. So, what do we do? we sit on the edge of our seats and bit our nails in curiosity.
Now the plot point shifts its pace and increases the stakes even higher. Gohul bites Nida in an escape chase, and for a few seconds the director keeps an important information hidden from us, that is, is Nida dead or alive?
Soon, we realize that Nida survives the bite but now there are two Nida in the story, one the real one and the other is Ghoul. Now, this kind of an suspense works great and the treatment to it is so good that during the big reveal of who is actually human, both 'Nida' are on a very crucial stage. Finally, a reveal happens...it's just great.
At the end almost all of the people in the rehab/assylum centre 'Megdoot31' are killed and only Radhika and Manav Kaul remain, but Radhika kills him, out of her own righteousness, patriotism, fundamentalism, etcism etcism.
So, How to judge a Screenplay and say 'Its Good' or 'Its Bad'?
Here's my concept, Screenplays that answer all the 'Why?s" and scripts that do not give homework to the audience are the best ones.
The opposites are obviously the bad ones.
Have to mention the last frame of Ghoul because after a very long time Ghoul does have 'a grey ending' or 'a good ending', it is deliberately a bad ending.
An ending where Nida takes the same fundamental step that her father took, but this time it's her deliberate will and not a choice.
Enjoy The Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg0N4L4mwFk
Until next time.
Akash
It is always a delight to watch a good script or rather a good Screenplay. Be it a drama or a sci-fi or some fantasy, good screenplays are rare and that is why they should be cherished.
To understand Ghoul we need to understand - 'What is Ghoul?'
Ans: A ghoul is a demon or monster originating in pre-Islamic Arabian religion associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh. (Wikipedia Info)
But the story dwells on the idea that Ghoul has a capability to shapeshift into its prey or the last bit.
To understand Ghoul more as a screenplay we need to go according to the classic THREE ACT structure and then we can know exactly 'Why?' it is a great screenplay.
ACT 1 - The Set Up
The set up is modern India in it's Socio-Political and Nationalist dilemma, and due to this situation, our protagonist Radhika Apte's character Nida Rahim falls into an emotional conflict of getting her own father arrested, who is a fundamentalist and has his own ways of solving problems. He keeps reminding her that he's not happy with his government and the system is corrupt.
Hence, he ends up in a detention center to testify himself as not guilty.
How the Screenplay works:
Also in this part, we are getting familiar with other characters, locations their relationship and (the most important) their vulnerability.
By the end of this act, we are introduced to Ghoul or the antagonist of the story.
Act 2 - Confrontation
This is the part where we are introduced to the difference that Ali Saeed (the antagonist) and Ghoul are two different things.
We also grow more into another character's journey and that is Capt. Sunil Dacunha, a decorated officer, a father and a husband with a drinking habit, that causes him a mutiny in the next episode. The role is played by Mr. Manav Kaul.
We here also learn that the arrested person is not normal and is sustaining pains beyond human tendencies.
How the Screenplay works:
Nida here in this ACT is constantly trying to prove her credibility while discovering that the person imprisoned is not actually a human being but something beyond.
She becomes sure is when she sees him rise back from the dead and recover.
The challenges to the protagonist are:
1. Educate herself and others about whatever this thing is, and
2. To escape this place safely.
Towards the end of this ACT, we are still in limbo of 'is it a human?' or 'is it a devil?'
We for sure know it's not a human but now we have to get some more answers.
As the last resort to make Ali Saeed speak a giant of a man is called and his name is Faulad Singh.
Jaisa Naam Waisa Kaam...Faulad Singh (Mr. Hulk).
ACT 3 - Resolution
Have you seen The Avengers (2012)?
What is Loki's plan when he gets captured on the Helicarrier, that big flying aircraft carrier of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
To unleash the greatest beast on board, hence HULK, but why?
To make the entire thing to go into a self-destruction mode. Remember?!
Similarly when we are relying on Faulad Singh, at the same time Ghoul is waiting for him to acquire his body.
A Maulana (one of the prisoners) who knows about Ghoul, explains it to Nida and we immediately discover that Faulad Singh is dead and Ghoul has now shapeshifted into Faulad Singh.
Higher the stakes, higher the tension.
But with this, the story takes an interesting turn, now Ghoul can be anybody or, for the story, anyone can be Ghoul.
Brilliant. Isn't it?!
A gruesome game begins and we do not know now who's going to be Ghoul. So, what do we do? we sit on the edge of our seats and bit our nails in curiosity.
Now the plot point shifts its pace and increases the stakes even higher. Gohul bites Nida in an escape chase, and for a few seconds the director keeps an important information hidden from us, that is, is Nida dead or alive?
Soon, we realize that Nida survives the bite but now there are two Nida in the story, one the real one and the other is Ghoul. Now, this kind of an suspense works great and the treatment to it is so good that during the big reveal of who is actually human, both 'Nida' are on a very crucial stage. Finally, a reveal happens...it's just great.
At the end almost all of the people in the rehab/assylum centre 'Megdoot31' are killed and only Radhika and Manav Kaul remain, but Radhika kills him, out of her own righteousness, patriotism, fundamentalism, etcism etcism.
So, How to judge a Screenplay and say 'Its Good' or 'Its Bad'?
Here's my concept, Screenplays that answer all the 'Why?s" and scripts that do not give homework to the audience are the best ones.
The opposites are obviously the bad ones.
Have to mention the last frame of Ghoul because after a very long time Ghoul does have 'a grey ending' or 'a good ending', it is deliberately a bad ending.
An ending where Nida takes the same fundamental step that her father took, but this time it's her deliberate will and not a choice.
Enjoy The Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg0N4L4mwFk
Until next time.
Akash
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