" Tujhse sach kabhi chup hi nahi sakta.."
Spoilers ahead...
Plot: Rajkummar Rao as an Investigator Cop
Vikram
Jai Singh (Rajkummar Rao), who is suffering from PTSD, on advice from his
doctor and girlfriend Neha Mehta (Sanya Malhotra), goes on a few months break
from his police duty. A few weeks later, he’s informed about Neha going
missing, and soon Vikram realizes that the case is connected with another girl,
Preeti Mathur (Rose Khan), who was kidnapped a few months earlier.
Pacy Whodunnit with Rajkummar Rao as Lead
A fast,
really fast-paced whodunnit crime drama is always great to watch. There are
very few distractions; the romantic angle is actually underdone, while the
songs never feel unnecessary, plus they are used in small portions only.
Rajkummar Rao, as the lead, plays this character with a past we are never fully
told about, making him a cop that is all the time risking his mental health
while trying to solve cases. He does a great job in each and every frame.
Weak Writing and Climax in Hit: The First Case
It’s the
small choices that the writing team makes that spoil the movie, and I am not
yet talking about the big reveal in the end. For instance, why would a neighbor
divorcee, Sheela (Shilpa Shukla), who’s been friendly with Preeti, suddenly
decide to get attention by sending a handwritten note about the body? Are some
people so out of order that they would risk police torture just to get some
limelight?
Then,
there was that unnecessary death of Ibrahim (Milind Gunaji), who’s been one of
the main suspects all along, which I felt was brilliantly done in the
screenplay (even the trailer cut suggests that he may be involved). Yet, in
that night rain scene, we see him for no reason go missing only to come back
and get hit by a bullet. If that wasn’t enough, we see this other cop, who has
always been boring you with the rivalry, suddenly appear out of nowhere to save
Vikram’s life.
Coming to
the climax, I felt the reason for the murder and the murderer both were good,
and even the motive was understandable. For me, she didn’t appear silly; people
can be obsessive, and in love, that obsession can lead anywhere. She even kills
her accidentally. Where it misfires is that the character in question is seen
so little in the narrative, which feels like cheating. Most of the best
whodunnits feature the character who commits the crime present at least 70% of
the time on screen, so you can’t guess it right.
Sanya
Malhotra also gets very little screen time, and her character is mostly used to
confuse the narrative rather than to do anything else. Dalip Tahil and Akhil
Iyer are good in their supporting roles.
Verdict on Hit: The First Case
Overall, Hit:
The First Case is decent because of its pace and the strong lead acting of
Rajkummar Rao, but the writing issues are apparent throughout the narrative,
especially in the second act, with the final reveal only making it worse.
Rating: 5.5/10
0 Comments