If after watching a film you have all praises for its lead actor, art direction and background score, but are not willing to praise the film on the whole as any entertaining experience at all, then that's a clear failure for the makers, unable to make any kind of connection with the general viewers, which is unfortunately the case with the much awaited MAIN AUR CHARLES made on the real life stories of Charles Sobhraj, a conman/serial killer active towards the end of the last century.Recalling the news bulletins/newspapers of those decades I personally remember Sobhraj's criminal deeds being read and discussed with the element of an 'entertaining awe' and most of the people imagining him as a charming, clever hero of some Hindi pulp fiction novel, forgetting all about the blood and murders associated with his big-name willingly. So following the same pattern, one expected the bio-pic of such a controversial-likable personality to be an equally exciting watch depicting 'the cat & mouse games' played with the Police in a truly entertaining manner making the best of the opportunity given.However it was really sad to see the film turning out to be nothing but a mere stylized portrayal of Charles's happening life scoring much less on the content level disappointing many.Giving the deserving credit to its visible merits, yes here we have Randeep Hoodatruly enacting the character with an impressive, mesmerizing elegance using a fine mix of language, make-up and dialogue-delivery creating a hypnotic kind of impact (just like the real life Charles), an intelligent re-creation of the gone era by the art-directors, a pulsating background score (though there is no innovation tried by the composers following the past hits) and a talented cast ensemble in the key roles making it an enjoyable film for the viewers just interested in the technical part of the creation ignoring everything else.On the other hand, when you take into consideration its less engaging script progression, the 'more than required' artistic style of narration, not so clearly spoken dialogues having a foreign accent, the deliberated inserted skin-show, lackluster music (ruining another golden hit "Jab Chhaye Mera Jadoo"), avoidable dumb characters as of Mandana Karimi and no detailed attention given on the 'How he did it all' part of the biography, MAIN AUR CHARLES seems to be a pretty confused product trying to cater the classes as well as the masses together following a jumbled vision of its director Parwaal Raman. As a result despite the honest efforts put in by Adil Hussain, Richa Chaddha and Vipin Kumar it doesn't reach out to the general viewers willing to see something exciting as well as entertaining made on the life of a negative but interesting French-Indian-Vietnamese personality of Charles Sobhraj.Having said that, MAIN AUR CHARLES does hold you tight in its final 40 minutes showcasing the jail-break sequence and the link established with the opening scene of his murders committed in Thailand. Plus it has some exceptional strokes too played occasionally like focusing on the book 'Mein Kampf' in Sobhraj's personal collection, the old Black & White classic being played in the jail for the selected inmates and the warden referring to him as 'Sir'. Yet, one honestly misses the finer details and is forced to think that the potential subject and figure surely deserved a much better film from the makers materializing on the golden chance.Moreover the film also couldn't give me answers for many significant questions in mind. Like what was his early childhood about, where did he learn his various arts of influencing/hypnotizing people, how he used to charge for his interviews and discuss copyrights of his personal life-content, did the 'Charles' in his name have anything to do with 'Charlie Chaplin' (as it is rumoured), what were his views about India in particular, what happened to him after the Indian chapter, where is he now and what's in his mind at the present after spending so many years in the jails of various countries? (The questions Google answers much better than the film!)Anyway, where MAIN AUR CHARLES successfully manages to score on technical grounds, it fails to do the same in terms of 'connecting with the general audience' as desired. But you can still see it for the style quotient and Randeep Hooda in particular who simply nails it playing Charles Sobhraj …..unarguably.

Based on the life of notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj, 'Main Aur Charles' is a richly acted biopic, about a notorious man. Even as a film, its decent, but not as sharp as one expects it to be.'Main Aur Charles' is Inspired by true events and told from the perspective of respected Indian cop, Amod Kanth who handled the notorious case of serial killer, Charles Sobhraj.'Main Aur Charles' aces as far the performances are concerned. Randeep Hooda is appropriately creepy as the serial killer, flaunting a french accent & alluring women with sheer effectiveness. Adil Hussain nails every bit of Amod Kanth, portraying the honest cop to the fullest. Richa Chadda is absolutely stunning as Mira, Charles's girlfriend, who, without any remorse, defends the criminal. Its an eerie performance, performed majestically. On the flip-side, 'Main Aur Charles' is unevenly Written. Prawaal Raman's Screenplay begins on an excellent note & the series of events that follow, manage to arrest your attention aptly. Its the second-hour, that begins to fall. The pace drops & the drama in this hour, lacks the punch. Even the culmination, doesn't leave a big impact. Raman's Writing is great partly & ordinary otherwise. Raman's Direction, on the other-hand, oozes style. The Cinematography & The Editing, deserve a special mention.On the whole, 'Main Aur Charles' stuns in parts, sadly, not entirely.

I would definitely recommend this movie. you cannot miss any screen time otherwise you would get lost. To squeeze the life of a person in 2 hours is not easy. the movie is fast paced with dates and locations and shuffles in past and present (movie time). Randeep is phenomenal in his screen presence and truly does justice to the character. He is quick witted. Like when he asks for his friend about what about his passport, his friend says will take time. (He has done a jail break already). He simply says "Passport office mai bheja hai kya". Lot of people didn't understand these simple punch lines and its riot laugh the way he makes these statements as if its normal. You have to keep yourself gelled to the screen as talking to friend or company will ruin the fun :). It would simply push Randeep in the category of sought after actors. The support role of meera(Rich chaddha) is also good , acting as a Delhi bimbo. The role of Delhi police chief (lost his real name) is also strong. A must watch, fast paced movie.

Dark Crime Drama that narrates the cruel and dark side of crime world or crime personalities has always been the fascinating subject of many Bollywood filmmakers and when the plan of making the movie on extremely infamous hiked psychopath who is known by his notorious serial murders and presenting himself stylishly in the delusion of being a celebrity comes in focus then its sure to be made into movie, 2015 release '' Main Aur Charles'' is based on the most spoken criminal of 1970's Charles Shobraj, his life which is not less than any thrillers on screen when made into movie obviously strikes the height of curiosity among the viewers.Randeep Hooda in the shoes of Charles presented himself very perfectly with all those quirky style and suiting accents provided full justice to the role, a good role for an actor to prove his acting brilliance, Adil Hussain as an Inspector Amodh Kanth convince the audience with his ideal performance, in the team that had more good artists like Richa Chadda, Tisca Chopra and many more rendered their good act on screen, the flow of the movie which has non linear mode with slow phase narrative pattern seems to be much sober, movie with its timely perfect background scores hits the absolute pulse of the viewers, Prawaal Raman an ambitious director with his good narrative skills showcased his high class directorial talent, overall ''Main Aur Charles'' is more like the stylish representation of 1970's most hiked criminal 'The Serpant'.