Director Manish Gupta returning to the genre of ‘whodunit’ suspense thrillers was enough to give me that much needed excitement as I really loved his THE STONEMAN MURDERS and rate it as one of the best films in this particular category coming from the new age talented actors and directors of Hindi cinema. So eager to see Kay Kay Menon once again in a Manish Gupta film, I entered the theatre in high spirits and came out largely satisfied with another well-paced, engrossing and a fine crime drama giving you the worth of your money spent in those two hours.
Inspired from the infamous Aarushi Talwar murder case that kept everyone guessing till many months (or rather years), RAHASYA comes to the point right away with the murder and doesn’t waste any time on silly introductions breaking the set norm of a Hindi film. It considers the viewers intelligent enough to take this no-nonsense opening spiritedly and then goes on building the suspense factor with its exceptional cast ensemble quite well. The film gains it actual momentum once Kay Kay comes in playing the main investigation officer and his interrogation sequence in the lockup lifts up the story progression impressively.
The interest is kept alive post intermission too as the script unfolds many gripping twists and turns as expected from a worth watching murder mystery. Plus the usual format of the subject doesn’t get monotonous or boring, shifting the suspicion constantly. A song less film as it should ideally be, RAHASYA has an ok background score that could be more exciting as I personally felt, but the cinematography catches the feel of the theme perfectly. Here I would specifically like to mention the way Manish Gupta and his DOP conceive their dark (night) sequences, lighting them brilliantly with a visible distinction if compared to many other films. Interestingly Manish’s THE STONEMAN MURDERS also had the same merit, causing a huge difference in the overall impact of the film that had its major part of the story happening in the night only.
Kay Kay Menon being there in almost every scene of the film post his introduction, plays the intense lead role superbly (in his full form) along with Ashish Vidyarthi, Tisca Chopra, Meeta Vashisht, Ashwini Kalsekar and Manoj Maurya doing complete justice to their given characters in the script. Particularly it was a relief to watch Ashish Vidyarthi back in a good substantial role after a long gap and nice to see Ramesh Deo too in a cameo. However I wish Ashish and Tisca had more scenes together filling in the emotional depth missing in the film as far as the family conflict is concerned.
(Spoilers Ahead)
In other words, despite revolving around a young girl’s murder in her room possibly committed by the father only, RAHASYA doesn’t have that warmth making an instant heartfelt connect with the viewer. It remains a dry ‘whodunit’ crime thriller mostly that successfully manages to keep you engrossed throughout with some evident loopholes that can easily be caught by any avid fan of crime films or novels. For instance, the flats of any high rise buildings in the metros normally never have a false-flooring with that much space to hide a dead body so easily (for so many days!). Moreover the big involvement of Police officer in the case also turns out to be completely unconvincing, hampering its desired impact on the viewer post the climax-revelation.
Having said that, RAHASYA still remains a worth watching movie without any doubt, especially if you are a fan of Kay Kay and this interesting genre of ‘whodunit’ suspense thrillers ending on a shocking note. So do give it a try for sure and don’t reveal the secret to anybody else as a responsible movie-goer, keeping their interest alive.
Rating : 3.5 / 5
(Note : After watching TALVAR (Oct - 2015), I have revised my rating of RAHASYA from 3 to 3.5 admitting my earlier mistake of rating it lower than it truly deserved.)
Tags :
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