This is a film that is very good at being a dark comedy. It also happens to be without the irony that the genre usually brings – dark things treated in a comical way. Here, all the dark stuff remains dark. Comedy is a separate entity. This division is exactly what makes this a very, very weird film. It doesn’t just subvert expectations, it toys with our very idea of seriousness. It gets dead pan serious at places where you don’t want to take anything seriously.

This is why the film has left me damn unsure of whether I liked it or not. It is a treat to watch somebody attempt comedy in the Mysskin genre of films. The fact that it is only occasionally funny is secondary – the fun is in how it “behaves”. The staging stands out as expected, with how characters move for the camera and around it. Karthik Venkatraman’s cinematography is laden with low angles and Dutch tilts, staying true to the filmmaker’s style he is treading on. Arrol Corelli’s score too is noticeable for its familiar, dramatic personality. All this is going on while Ram and Mysskin are pitting out their hysterics against each other.

It seems like the point of the story is kicking in towards the end of the climax, but again, it only seems so. I see it as a statement about the need for world peace, (ironically told through violence). The lyrics of the title track question the purpose of all knives except that of the barber’s. The bare need of any kind of knife is to cut the umblical cord, and this lyric is demonstrated in dramatic fashion in the climax, with the juxtaposition of a woman giving birth and two men in a violent fight. For all you know this could be expressed in a single music video. But the fact that the film goes through scenes like the one with the mentally challenged guy talking existentialism, the ice cream parlour fight, the park chase, and others to make its point, is what is rather confusing. This vagueness is the reason why I can’t put a finger on a like/dislike for this knife. All I can say about this is – so weird, but no regrets.