Review of Raat Akeli Hai . . .

 Review of Raat Akeli Hai . . . 

In Bollywood we have very less films of murder mysteries genre nowadays web series coming, some south Indian films are also there and some hindi also made earlier like Drishyam, The Body etc but still i feel Hindi films are less in the genre compared to Hollywood as they are making some damn good movies on WHODUNIT? kinda stories.

Honey Trehan's debut film murder mystery Raat Akeli Hai set in Uttar Pradesh Kanpur where in one family the head is murdered named Thakur Raghubeer Singh (Khalid Tyabji) who was going to marry his mistress Radha (Radhika Apte) who is less than half of his age. 

His family members are main suspect as on wedding night they are the ones who all are available there in the house when murder happened.In family there's Son, Daughter, Son In-Law, Nephew, Niece, Wife's Brother also a maid girl and of course his new second wife etc now the question is who done it? What was the purpose behind the murder?

To solve this mystery one cop is taking charge named Jatli Yadav (Nawazzuddin Siddiqui) earlier Jatin but somehow his name is changed to Jatil means a tough in Hindi language.

Jatil Yadav is a bachelor and almost crossed the age of marriage but still his mother (Ila Arun) is keep finding a girl for him that's the only her wish to see his son married and settled. Jatil shows disinterest in marriage but his mother thinks that when he wear a cop uniform and goggles he's looking like Ajay Devgn as his color tone is also little dark but doesn't look less than Hero.

Few weeks back I watched one web series on Voot channel The Raikar's Case which is also a WHODUNIT? murder mystery i liked it too.

This screenplay is penned by Smita Singh which is interesting, intriguing and entertaining too. In the first half as investigation starts it's fast paced till interval and also after interval first portion is fast paced but last 30-40 minutes in my opinion is little slow as comparatively earlier portions. Still there are no scenes where i lost the interest.

Writing is so engaging and resemblance is such things makes it more classy. Specially three characters written so well Nawaz, Radhika and Chunni (Riya Shukla) who's playing Maid of the Thakur family. Chunni's father was a driver of the family and almost five years back he and first wife of Thakur Singh both were died in card accident hit by truck. During this investigation Jatil found that case is linked too and then there's one more murder happens as it's little suspense so can't write more about it here. But chunni's character plays very pivotal role here.

Radha excellently played by one of the finest actress of recent times Radhika Apte who's Baazaru Aurat here and Thakur was going to marry him but none of the family members like her as they feel she's ruining the reputation of the family in society.

Radha has also connection with Jatil in past. When he's coming to interrogation he recognized it.

Jatil Yadav is another brilliantly written and well enacted character by Nawaz Sahab. He reminds me of his earlier Cop's role Majmudar from Raees which was fantastic performance and yes like always this time too he's nailed it completely. I feel for this role he didn't goes over or lower not for a single moment. Whether his scenes with mother in house or interrogation with family members or talks with senior (Tigmanshu Dhulia) or interactions with political face (Aditya Shrivastav) who's also connected to this family each scene from beginning to end he shines as rough and tough cop aided by another cop (Shreedhar Dubey) does an impressive job.

Other actors from the family members also done very good job specially Shweta Tripathi she has less to do but she steals the show in her scene and specially mention Shivani Raghuvanshi is another brilliant performer in the film.

What we expect from murder mystery? An engaging screenplay? Great performers? Intriguing background score? Besides having all these things another USP of the film is it's cinematography done by Pankaj Kumar. What fantastic camera work whether it's indoor or outdoor each shot taken so perfectly adding cherry on the cake.

Art Design is also very fine. Color combination somewhere dark and somewhere yellowish obviously when there's UP and Cop scenes they have to make it yellowish don't know why but it's trend since years whether its Dabangg or any RGV films hahahaha.

Several long lasting impactful sequences such as Jatil's mother's emotional touching scene as she remembers his husband, Jatil meets Radhaika, Jatil interrogates family members, Jatil is having meal with colleague at restaurant, Aditya Shrivastav scenes with Jatil, Shweta Tripathi's scenes etc are so perfect for neo noir drama.

Story is simple like all murder mysteries but i can say technically it's extraordinary film. It's great experience that some film makers are making this kind of cinema in Hindi film industry so some how we can achieve that level of cinematic treasure in future.

Kudos to Honey Trehan and team Raat Akeli Hai for delivering very interesting film in WHODUNIT? genre.

It's available on Netflix OTT platform.

My Ratings

3.5/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . .