Good intentions, tardy execution

Nonika Singh

‘Neeyat’… if intentions alone maketh a film! Cast in the mould of Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on The Orient Express’, this Vidya Balan-starrer opens mysteriously enough. A storm is brewing literally and metaphorically. A castle in Scotland owned by billionaire Ashish Kapoor (Ram Kapoor) is home to his birthday party.

One by one we are introduced to the guest list that includes friends and family. There is ex-flame Noor (Dipannita Sharma) and her disgraced doctor husband (Neeraj Kabi), current girlfriend Lisa (Shahana Goswami), deviant son Ryaan (Shashank Arora), gay brother-in-law (Rahul Bose), faithful secretary Kay (Amrita Puri) and more. Add to it a suspicious looking event manager Tanveer (Danesh Razvi) and darts of suspicion fly in all directions. A motley crowd of suspects is around and even before Kapoor can pronounce, “All of you are leeches”, we know anyone can pull the trigger and something sinful is about to happen.

The impending doom is writ all over the atmospherics (stormy night, flickering lights… the works) and the body language of actors. Clearly none of them is what meets the eye. Till the interval, during which the expected happens, you are invested in the storyline. Like in the Agatha Christie classic, each one of them has a motive to kill Kapoor who, by the way, is a fugitive on the run after defrauding Indian banks. His bankruptcy declaration has driven many of his employees to commit suicide. Sounds real?

Well, Kapoor’s past is not merely a backstory or an aside or social comment but an important part of the jigsaw puzzle. By the interval time, he is dead under mysterious circumstances. Meera Rao (Vidya Balan), who is the CBI officer investigating the murder, declares, “It is not suicide but murder.”

Whodunit? There are many a red herring and a couple of more murders before the mystery is solved and motives become clear. And it’s here that the narrative falters the most. In the unravelling of the murder mystery, the film, too, gets almost undone. Loopholes are very many; why would someone carry his son’s DNA report to a party? Granted, no one is a saint there, but their wickedness does not quite whip up edge-of-the-seat tension. The customary same-sex love angle, revenge rooted in the classic personal vendetta story do not add to the mystique either. Sure, an unexpected twist and a charming cameo by Shefali Shah await you. With a cast to die for, sadly, most actors at best get a moment or two except for Ram Kapoor and Vidya Balan. Balan once again makes a brave choice. Dressed in oversized sweaters and in a de-glam look, she plays and looks the part of a nerd detective who rattles off facts like an encyclopaedia. Kapoor as the billionaire, who truly believes he is no criminal and has done no wrong, is convincing enough to make you believe in him.

The movie does have some redeeming moments though. For the first half, it has you intrigued by its graph. But post-interval, the storyline takes whichever direction it cares to and the final denouement despite poetic justice prevailing is far from satisfying. Dialogues by Kausar Munir, who has also penned the song ‘Farebi’, are often sharp and witty. Wish the storyline and direction had been as sharp and not merely reminded you of Hollywood movies. The inspiration, from not just films based on Agatha Christie novels but also ‘Knives Out’, is obvious. Only, in ‘Neeyat’, the knives might be out but lack the cutting edge. Precisely why it engages, but with a not-so-original hook, it does not keep you hooked throughout.

Produced by Amazon Prime Video, who have opted for a theatrical release instead of directly dropping it on their own streaming platform, the cinematography by Andreas Neo does demand a big-screen outing. But, does the film demand your time and money… well, you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple to find an answer to this query. Elementary, my dear Watson!