Cast- Siddhartha Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Khanna, Mandira Bedi, Sameer sharma
Director- Abhay Chopra
Writers- Abhay Chopra, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Malhotra
Is a murder mystery with two murders and two main suspects with equally credible and contradictory stories.
The narrative is simple in style yet engaging.
The plot begins with Vikram (Sidhartha Malhotra) on the run from the police being suspected of murder of his wife. He lands up in a house for refuge where coincidentally another murder has taken place / takes place and he now stands suspected of this second murder too.
The second protagonist is Maya (Sonakshi), the murdered man’s wife.
Akshay is the investigating officer, Dev.
The movie moves forward with both protagonists giving their versions of the evening as a part of interrogation by the police. We keep getting contradictory versions of the same sequences and our sympathies keep swinging to and fro. In our mind, we have chosen sides too.
Bits and pieces of the puzzle are gradually disclosed by both suspects that keeps adding to the intrigue. A couple of times we ended up realigning our guesses and sympathies.
On those terms , I would say the writer does well in captivating the viewers ‘ mind.
The screenplay is well written which keeps us engrossed. As a mystery, the story keeps us guessing and even gives us an unusual surprise ending.
But as a thriller, I wouldn’t be able to say that the story was taut or edge of the seat. There was no intensity in performances and neither was the plot able to create that in the viewer. There were no moments of high or extreme curiosity.
Policemen ‘s conversations and dialogues add a touch of humour here and there.
Performances were nothing great to write home about.
Sonakshi was just good enough ( though her painted face and near perfect hair seemed out of place many a times) . Sidharth anyways always fits the bill when it comes to brooding characters.
Akshay was great as the investigating officer (but for the nth time). I wonder why don’t directors offer something different to this capable actor.
The team ensured a pure and unadulterated format of a mystery thriller. Cinematography by Michal Luka was impressive .He used dull lighting and dim frames to create that feel of grey.
Editing by Nitin Baid ensured a good pace without any extra bits.
Screenplay(by director Abhay Chopra) ensured there were absolutely no sub plots and no characters that were irrelevant. There were no songs to break the pace.
Considering all these aspects, I would say it was an interesting murder mystery. But I did not find it as brilliant with a wow factor.
If you are a fan of murder mysteries, you’ll love the movie. It was interesting and engaging though not brilliant or taut .
It’s definitely a good one time watch.
Score 7 on 10