This dark mystery / psychological thriller is a desi noir that keeps you guessing like a whodunnit and surprises you with a very unexpected climax.
Cast- Anjali Patil , Sharib Hashmi , Abhimanyu Singh
Director – Prabhakar Mena Bhaskar Pant
Plot
The film opens on a very promising and intriguing note. A woman is fleeing after destroying all her identity documents and taping her confession. She leaves a man who is gagged, bound and locked.
Raghuram Singh( Abhimanyu) is in jail being accused by his wife Sindoora Singh(Anjali)of violence. Manas Verma(Hashmi), as Abhimanyu’s a lawyer wants to know the truth about that particular night when Sindoora claims she was attacked by Abhimanyu and Abhimanyu claims he was attacked by someone hiding in his house, allegedly his wife’s paramour. Manas goes ping pong between the contradictory versions and accusations of the couple. He is intrigued by the woman and the mystery around her though he is warned by Abhimanyu about her enticing and entrapping nature. But undeterred ,he continues to investigate. The story goes at a leisurely pace, playing with revelations only to lead to a very unexpected and surprising climax.
Analysis
Would begin with the good part first. The film is a good desi attempt at typical noir with characters being driven by cynicism and sexual motives. It boasts of intense mystery that keeps egging you on despite a very slow pace.It delivers a very surprising climax that would actually prompt you to go back in the narrative and try to join the dots.
But the film suffers from a very dated look.The maker resorts to a lot of cliches and tropes like mysterious looks, people peeping from windows, part pieces of conversation, jumping scenes etc.They do work, but keeping reminding you of films made decades back. Some of the scenes look amateurish and tacky.The screenplay had scope of being smarter.
Performance wise, Anjali Patil (remembered for Chakravyuh and Newton) manages to give different tones to her character as required. Sharib Hashmi remembered for his super debut in Filmistaan)plays the baffled lawyer well. Abhimanyu Singh( my favourite of him being Gulaal) disappointed though. It is to be noted that all three are wonderful actors capable of much more.I feel with better writing and direction , there could have been more depth to their characters.
Overall ,the film in spite of its weak points manages to keep you engaged. The dark feel, the mystery and the climax could make it worth for the hard core lovers of this genre.