The way Arushi murder case was dissected by the national media, it was only time when a filmmaker got inspired. Manish Gupta picks the skeleton of the real life case and then fleshes it with fictional elements. If you ignore the selfish intentions to milk a case which is still in the court, Manish proficiently blends what we know and what is in the domain of speculations and hearsay to come up with a cogent investigation.
Ayesha Mahajan (Sakshi Sem), the teenaged daughter of a doctor couple is found murdered in her bedroom in mysterious circumstances. The local police officer finds her father, Sachin Mahajan (Ashish Vidyarthi) as the prime suspect as he didn’t like the increasing bonding between his daughter and a Muslim boy. In comes Sunil Paraskar (Kay Kay Menon) an honest CBI officer, who can afford walnuts but can’t pay the EMI of his car. As he goes after the motivations of principal characters, he finds there is more to it than what meets the eye.
As the layers unravel, secrets tumble out and images are tarnished. Of course there is one more body to be found. You just have to guess the location!
The CBI officer is also the father of a daughter and though the film doesn’t say this in as many words, perhaps this is the reason that he goes beyond the call of duty to crack the case. The basic plot is intriguing and keeps you interested till the end but in a thriller there are plenty of blanks to be filled between the hows and whys and here Manish falters.
To hide the big reveal, some of the actors are underutilised. It doesn’t work because their reputation creates suspicion. Some of the situations, particularly the opening sequences look staged. Also Sunil’s conversation with his wife and his entry sequence are not convincing. However, as Kay Kay gets into the groove of the character, he owns the part and makes up for the lack of details in the characterisation. Similarly, Ashish and Ashwini impress in conveying the wounds people carry or hide. No doubt, it is a doctored effort but a welcome relief from the song and dance routine.
