Uma feels two recent films depict two different ‘Indias’:

As portrayals of depravity, greed and coldbloodedness, “Manorama” and “Johnny Gaddaar” exemplify a new noirish sensibility set in contemporary India. In their different ways, they are filled with an atmosphere of unease, even menace: the insect in the chai, the tawdry hotel room, the pounding on the door, light and shadows falling on hairpieces in the beauty parlour. But while Polanski’s 1974 classic set in pre-war Los Angeles ended on the darkest possible note, with the director in fact changing writer Robert Towne’s happier ending specifically for this purpose, both “Manorama” and “Johnny Gaddar” have a somewhat more optimistic moral outlook. Crime ultimately does not go unpunished: Satyaveer himself conveys the death sentence in “Manorama”, while “Johnny Gaddaar” ends with the entire gang being wiped out.