Cast: Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi

Director: Arati Kadav

Rating: ***

Platform: Netflix

After experimenting with all kinds of genres in the Indian OTT market, digital streaming giant Netflix's latest offering brings a modern version of Indian mythology mixing it up with fiction.

Cargo is a Hindi science-fiction film that depicts Hindu-mythology into space. The film marks the debut of Arati Kadav as a director and writer by bringing an illusory and plausible genre for the audience. The film stars Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi in lead roles, it is co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, Shlok Sharma, and Navin Shetty.

The movie is sketched on a superficial fusional concept of life after death with the absurdly modernized idea of Indian mythology. It shows the male lead Prahastha (Vikrant Massey) plays the role of Rakshasa/ Yamraja, who is an agent that recycles dead people. He resides on a spaceship named Pushpak 634A and many such spaceships (Pushpak) are functioning in the space with Demons (agents).

As the film evolves it's hinted that Prahastha has possibly been in the job for 75 years - where he has diligently performed his duties. Prahastha has seemingly embraced the loneliness and the monotony of his daily rituals, with his only colleague Nitigya (Nandu Madhav).  But all that changes after his superiors force him to accept a new assistant in Yuvishka (Shweta Tripathi) endowed with magical healing powers with the help of a torch. Cargo proceeds in the plot with a series of vignettes, involving the dead people who pass through Pushpak 634A, showing some human emotions and experiences of the two.

As far-fetched and intriguing the abstraction sounds as a viewer you will find it endearing since director Arati Kadav decided to make a film with minimum location showcasing the technology from the 1980s which was not so advance.

The film is well directed considering all the elements, infusing the stories we all have heard growing up into a science fiction narrative with a scientific and philosophical touch.

Vikrant Massey's performance in the movie is commendable, the actor seems to have felt the story. Shweta Tripathi compliments her role well, but she is overshadowed by her Vikrant Massey. The guest appearances by Ritwik Bhowmik, Konkona Sen Sharma, Biswapati Sarkar, and Rohan Shah add value to the movie.

The VFX impress and look realistic keeping in mind the environment of a jellyfish-like space structure and considering the inner and outer scenes of the shuttle, it has Hollywoodized the film making the effects believable.

The music of cargo is not really felt, as per the requirement of the film and the storyline it was not needed, the film would be fine just without it.

Overall, Cargo is an indistinctively entertaining film that lacks depth, but the cultural and mythological references make it local and relatable for people. With great performances, it is a good one time watch for the uniqueness of its story and sincere direction.