And then there are those films that have the potential to do well but don’t. 3 Storeys began on a promising note but instead of an intermission, it required an intervention of sorts to become one of the best films from Bollywood this year. The acting was top notch, the dialogues had a meaning but the film had no soul as it ended with a bust than a bang. It did borrow elements from The Usual Suspects, Crash and Identity but unlike the Hollywood classics, it came out as a long play that could have been a contender. It is not a complete waste of time flick but in the era when ‘different’ films get noticed, this film might die an early death due to a much better Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety and upcoming Raid and Hichki.

The film revolves around multiple characters living in a 3 Storey building, hence the film’s title. There is one story involving Mrs. Mendonca (Renuka Shahane) and her ‘for-sale’ house which finally gets a buyer Vilas Naik (Pulkit Samrat); then there is the failed marriage story of Varsha Atre (Masumeh Makhija) who is married to an alcoholic, while her old lover Shankar (Sharman Joshi) has moved in the same building with his family; finally there is the story of an inter-religion love affair where the two lovers (Aisha Ahmed and Ankit Rathi) brace themselves for a shocker. All these stories are narrated by Leela (Richa Chadda) who is the apple of many people’s eye in the building despite being a widow; her character remains the only one who doesn’t get closure and the director Arjun Mukherjee is to be blamed for keeping the audience in the dark here.

If you think that all three stories are related, then you are wrong because they neither resolve simultaneously nor make you wait for the end, as everything happens chronologically. After the first story ends, the second story begins and then comes the final one thus, boring the audience. Yes, the performance of all the actors is believable but they could have made it into a very good mini TV series or a web series with each episode having a different story but for a film, you need other things. It was great to watch Renuka Shahane after a long time and she remains the only actor with the wow factor; Masumeh Makhija is a welcome addition to Bollywood but she doesn’t get to display her acting range in the role straight from the 80s – of a wife who has to be the breadwinner due to an alcoholic husband. Sharman Joshi plays the same good guy that has made him famous while Pulkit Samrat tries to ape Salman Khan again and fails. •