An old rich guy, Raghuveer Singh (Khalid Tyabji) is found dead on the night of his wedding with a young girl Radha (Radhika Apte). The local cop Jatil Yadav (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) arrives at the house learning about each member of this dysfunctional family where everyone is a suspect as he tries to solve the puzzle which involves politicians, corruption and also another incident that happened 5 years ago in which Raghuveer's 1st wife had died.
It clearly will give you 'Knives Out' vibe initially but unlike that movie, the tone here isn't comical rather very dark drama that takes on violence against women and male dominance as the main themes. The little bit of light hearted humor comes only with Jatil and his mother (an excellent Ila Arun) scenes where she is always eager to find a perfect match for him.
The whole whodunnit angle is well played out, even if the story isn't something not seen before, it would take a real smart mind to know who killed Raghuveer, there's only 2 particular scenes that gives a hint to the killer. But as I said before, more than the murder mystery, its a social take on the way women are treated and the corrupted system. I was infact getting ready for a 'Jaane bhi do yaaro' kind climax when Jatil says to the politician that you don't have much time left. I felt the politician's power will undo all the work and Jatil will get suspended.
The screenplay was balanced for me, felt it went at right pace, keeping me engaged, the length of the movie did felt too long and the unwanted songs included was a very poor decision. What really works is Nawazuddin's act, who off-late has been giving monotonous feel but here him been in almost every frame of movie, you can feel him totally into the character, with some fun dark comedy but not overdone. Radhika Apte also chips in a very good performance, and has a good chemistry in all scenes with Nawaz. Good cameos from the supporting cast, Aditya Srivastav, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Padmavati Rao especially.
The train sequences between Jatil and Radha were my favourites, also loved the chilling opening sequence.
Raat Akeli Hai is a good watch, works on many levels, be it performances or a mystery thriller or as just a social drama.
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