Overview
A chilling investigation unfolds as a little girl goes missing, revealing the dark sides of those involved.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- bleak
- angry
- paranoid
- serious movie night
- dark thriller marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Anurag Kashyap's dark, gripping crime drama for its uncompromising portrait of moral corruption, though some found its prolonged procedural detours and emotional payoff uneven.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The missing-child case progressively reveals greed, resentment, manipulation, and self-interest among both fathers, the mother, police, and associates.
The stepfather's position as a senior police figure intersects with private hostility and procedural control during the investigation.
The film places its characters in increasingly sordid scenarios while withholding comforting moral alignment.
The investigation moves through the conflicting agendas and revelations of the divorced parents, stepfather, and surrounding characters.
Films like Ugly, and why
Gangs of Wasseypur
morally corrosive Indian crime drama centered on institutional failure and compromised characters
Prisoners
dark missing-person investigation driven by procedural tension and emotional devastation
Zodiac
bleak crime thriller exposing greed, violence, and moral collapse beneath a seemingly ordinary society
Movie Details
- Director
- Anurag Kashyap
- Release Date
- 2013-05-17
- Runtime
- 128 min
- Rating
- 7.0 / 10 (140)
Cast
- Ronit Roy
- Rahul Bhat
- Vineet Kumar Singh
- Tejaswini Kolhapure
- Girish Kulkarni
- Surveen Chawla
- Siddhanth Kapoor
- Abir Goswami
- Anshika Shrivastava
- Madhavi Singh
Common questions
- What is Ugly about?
- A missing-child investigation becomes a merciless descent into the greed, resentment, and moral decay of a fractured family and its police-controlled world.
- What is Ugly like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Ugly as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Ugly violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Ugly as moderate.
- What did critics think of Ugly?
- Critics broadly praised Anurag Kashyap's dark, gripping crime drama for its uncompromising portrait of moral corruption, though some found its prolonged procedural detours and emotional payoff uneven.
- Which films are like Ugly?
- Films with a similar feel include Gangs of Wasseypur, Prisoners, and Zodiac.
- How long is Ugly?
- Ugly runs 128 minutes.
