Ali Fazal headlines Netflix original, House Arrest, directed by Shashanka Ghosh and Samit Basu. The film aims to address a lot of urbane issues, touches upon a few but explores none to a powerful impact.

Karan is a banker who has been staying inside his posh, luxurious flat for nine months and has literally not stepped outside his main door. However, he is not a loner, neither is he a psycho. He is very much the social animal that humans are – he talks to friends over phone, watches people on the street from his balcony and even spies on neighbours.

He manages his household chores with the help of a robot who cleans the place for him and maids and watchmen in the building who carry out chores like brining groceries and cash to his doorstep. Karan lives a perfectly normal, rather privileged life, in which he has gadgets to play with, a rich kitchen where he often whips up delicious meals garnished in a way suitable for seven-star restaurants. Basically, he runs a pretty much sorted and peaceful life and even earns a living through Skype consultations.

Sounds like the perfect plot to explore topics like urban loneliness, futility of the rat race that modern life has become, mental well-being and the likes. Except, the makers failed to dig into the very topics their plot offered on a platter. What we get, instead, is a hurriedly edited montage of a man who wants to be alone but has friends who will call him from the weirdest of places to offer getting a girl to his place. Because going out just means trying to get some sex. JD is one such friend who calls Karan from the toilet seat, or the bed soon after having sex, or a massage table -just to ask Karan if he can send a friend to his place.

Karan’s neighbour Pinky wearing all Pink brings a pink-coloured huge suitcase to his flat and coerces him to keep it for a day.The suitcase is supposed to add comedy to the plot – it holds ‘a dead body’ that just won’t die. The man keeps popping out of the suitcase and novelty of the gig could only last once or twice it first happened.