Tag Archives: Murder mystery

Andhadhun Review

Andhadhun Review – Andhadhun is an Indian crime thriller released in 2018. Aakash a pianist who pretends to be blind witnesses the murder of a famous film star, what unfolds next is the plot of Andhadhun.

Director Sriram Raghavan has sketched yet another gripping dark tale with suspense weaved in, that makes it an interesting watch. The story starts with the narration of the protagonist about the events that had happened in the past. Sriram has teased with the usual twists in a typical thriller much ahead in the movie giving you the sense of wondering is what is left. As you begin to wonder what would be left, the movie takes unexpected turns and goes deep down a rabbit hole of complex knots, that makes it more interesting. Ayushman Khuranna and Tabu play a pivotal role in the movie. Tabu has played a badass character with so much ease. The entire sequence at the house of Ayushman Khuranna is one of the brilliantly scripted scenes in the movie. The script reveals the truth at the right moments of time leading to a very engaging climax.

The movie opens with thanking Chitra Geet and Chitra Haar for entertaining us for a long time and ends with the great piano sequences from yesteryear bollywood movie. The music from Amit Trivedi stays up in the game and forms the soul of the movie.

High Points: The script is the strength of the movie, the performances of Tabu and Ayushman Khurana stand out very well, the art design of the locations add to the aesthetic flair of the movie. The background score and songs of Amit Trivedi lightens up even a dull scene.

Low Points: The only weak point of the script is Radhika Apte’s character. It is too shallow and forms too irrelevant for the plot to move forward. 

Overall Andhadhun is a very gripping dark crime thriller that would entertain you. It may not be the movie of epic scale but still would join the list of well written and made dark crime thrillers in Bollywood. This is now available on Netflix.

Worth a Watch

The Invisible Guest Review

The Invisible Guest Review – The Invisible Guest is a Spanish Crime Thriller released in 2016. A Spanish businessman Adrian is arrested for a murder in a hotel room. With all the doors locked and no way to leave the room, nails him as the culprit. But could there have been an invisible guest who could have left the room without a trace?

A good thriller is the one that always thinks ahead of the audience and does not fall into the cliches of McGuffins that had been tried and tested in many thrillers. The Invisible Guest is one such movie that keeps you guessing till the end. Just when you think that you have figured out the plot, the movie takes a different turn, adds an additional knot making the plot complex. In the end, the knot is removed very convincingly.

The tone of the movie is very gritty from the start, with constant gloomy atmosphere reflecting the gloominess in the unsolved mystery. The screenplay is structured brilliantly to removed the monotonous linear narration. It keeps jumping back and forth in the timeline to keep the interest going. Mario Casas has very well fit into the role of Adrian.

High Points: Very gripping screenplay, very convincing end, brilliant performances by the lead actors, cleverly structured non-linear narration.

Low Points: Hardly any low point

Overall, The Invisible Guest has all the ingredients required in a gritty thriller that keeps you guessing till the end. The movie is available on Netflix.

Must Watch

Taken 3 Review

Taken 3 Review – Taken 3 is an American action thriller released in 2015. This is the last of the Taken series featuring an ex CIA agent Bryan Mills played by Liam Neeson. Bryan Mills wife is murdered under mysterious circumstances at his home.  Police suspect Bryan for the murder. He has to go all out to find the true killer of his wife and bring him to justice.

Bryan Mills wooed us in the previous Taken series with his specialized skills that he had learnt from his past job. In both the previous occasions he had a strong motive to save his family members his daughter and his wife. I believe the makers wanted to have one last go with this character that had captured the hearts of the audience. However they have failed to establish a strong motive to drive Bryan Mills in that. Even though the motive is not so strong Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills tries everything he would do if he had one to run from the police, track down the villains in uncanny ways, beat the bad guys. The action part of the movie definitely has been done well but in the larger scheme of things if you think as to why all of this is happening you would struggle getting convinced about this one.

High Points: Liam Neeson, few punch dialogues like the one he says “Don’t try anything funny they would kill you… even if they don’t I will…” are enjoyable. Action sequences

Low Points: As his wife is already dead the movie ends up being an average murder mystery and fugitive story, the location was missing in this one the first one had Paris, the next one had Istanbul but nothing special here.

Overall if you have loved the Taken franchise you would not get bored with this one. But still on a comparative scale you would end up wanting the previous ones. You would enjoy it more sitting on your couch with a cup of coffee or popcorn.

Wait for DVD/TV

Sutta Kadhai

Sutta Kadhai – is a Tamil Slap stick comedy released in 2013.  In a fictitious tribal region Kora Malai the tribal head Ottagam is shot and killed when he is out hunting for birds. The daughter of Ottagam, two new recruits in the police are out to solve the mystery. Were they able to find the killer? is the plot of the movie.

Although the makers have tried to call it a dark comedy it is far from being dark and I would consider this as a slap stick comedy for the review. Director Subbu has struck upon a good concept, backdrop, characters and shots for the movie and where he has failed doing a good job is stitching the sequences together. It does however make you laugh occasionally. The casting for the movie is done well; you see experienced actors and newbies from Chennai Theatre group. The movie starts very well and demands a high degree of attention but after 30 mins into the movie it starts dragging as there are repeated and elaborate sequences. Before the knots are tied for the audience to keep guessing how it would be untied the story starts untying it. What they claimed to be a complex knot proves to be a very weak one.

What you would like: Concept and Characters, Absurdness in the script, Sambasivam comics

What you would dislike: Dragging and repeated sequences, Not so complicated problem, disconnected flow in the screenplay

Overall the movie is a forgettable affair.

Can skip it