Movie Review

Rating :

Verdict : Decent fast-paced investigative thriller. Nothing too bad, nothing too extraordinary.

‘Rahasya’, written and directed by Manish Gupta (writer of ‘Sarkar’ and director of ‘Hostel’) based on the sensational  2008 double murder case of Noida teenager Aarushi Talwar and domestic help Hemraj remains loosely based on this story and there is an equal proportion of similarities and dissimilarities with the case.  The movie had courted controversy when convicted parents Nupur and Rajesh Talwar had filed a case against the film. They were against any adaptation or interpretation of their case and had sought to see the film before giving their consent for the film. The censor board also had cleared the film tagging it as dissimilar to the case and most of who watch the film might agree with them.

Story:

The story is about the murder of Ayesha Mahajan (Sakshi Sen) and how the Police first and the CBI later go about the investigation of the murder. Domestic help Remy Fernandes (Ashwini Kalsekar) is the first to see the corpse bringing the police to their doors and their help Chetan Tiwary is absconding. Mother Aarti (Tisca Chopra) returns that morning from a surgery in Pune and father Sachin (Ashish Vidyarthi) wakes from his late-night hangover to see their daughter’s dead body. Initial investigations consisting of forensics, interrogations led by Inspector Malwade (Nimai Bali) land the father behind bars.

CBI comes into the picture and a no-nonsense, principled and bribe evading CBI Inspector Sunil Paraskar (Kay Kay Menon) wants to crack the case at any cost. He sets out on his mission and uncovers one truth after the other involving extra-marital affairs, illegitimate child, conspiracy, cover-ups, killings and violence.

The needle of suspicion moves from family friends Dr. Hansal (Bikramjeet Kanwarpal) and former heroine Brinda (Mita Vashisht), to their domestic helps and also towards Ayesha’s possessive lover Riyaz (Kunal Sharma). The killer is revealed in the climax with all characters and suspects in the same place and this throws up some interesting twists and answers.
 
Positive points:

It’s the performances that stand out in the film especially of Kay Kay Menon who has the maximum screen time. The comic relief in this serious film is provided by his witty one-liners and also by Nimai Bali as Malwade. The expressions depicted by Menon showing anger, helplessness, delight are brilliant. All the other performances are also good and Tisca Chopra emotes anger and grief well.  Kalsekar as a Christian help does an efficient job and gets the accent and mannerisms right. Vidyarthi and the other supporting cast enacted the scenes well. A fresh concept in the story is that when the killer is announced, the person vehemently denies and becomes violent unlike the CID killers who cry and reveal everything.

Negative points:

The twists are not path-breaking and some might even guess the killer. If you want to know the truth behind the case then this film is not the best source for you as innumerable sub-plots mismatch. Moreover, the extra-marital affairs and illegitimate child angle is not too convincing as Vidyarthi is not the most handsome man to enjoy three women almost simultaneously.

Technical points:

The story moves at a fast pace and there is no dull moment thus pointing to effective editing.  There are no songs and the background music by Ranjit Barot is the highlight of the film especially in the scenes where tension is building up.  Cinematography by Faroukh Mistry and picturization of the scenes is good particularly when there are close-up shots of Menon’s eyes or certain instruments and objects. The use of locations throughout the film is impressive which is visible in the scenes featuring Borivali National Park, the slums, swanky houses and the prisons.