Murder 3

Every member of the cast hams much too much and tries hard at seeming mysterious.

Namrata Joshi

Updated on: 7 February 2024 5:33 pm

Murder 3

Starring: Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sara Loren
Directed by Vishesh Bhatt
Rating: **

Murder 3 bears no resemblance to the first two installments in the series. Supposedly a remake of the Columbian film, The Hidden Face, it begins with the simple, unfussy story-telling mode that has been so quintessential to Bhatt films (their safe and surefire way to reach out to the lowest common denominator).

Vishesh Bhatt, in his debut film, doesn’t try to display any needless cinematic flair. He bats it very straight. Vikram (Hooda) and Roshni (Aditi) meet in South Africa and fall in love. She leaves her job and relocates to India. They live in palatial splendour at a remote, mysterious house. Then, one fine day she leaves him. The where and why remain a mystery. Two strange investigators add to the confusion.

Our hero is quite an enigma himself. Even as we wonder what he would have done to Roshni, Nisha (Sara), a waitress in a lounge bar, quickly enters his life and moves into the weird house at a moment’s notice. What this essentially means is that the pretty and fetching Aditi gets far less screen time than the pouty, affected and largely expressionless Sara. And Hooda, a man with great screen presence, has to do little other than stare intensely into the camera. In fact, every member of the cast hams much too much and tries hard at seeming mysterious.

The first half of the movie does little other than establish the ‘situation’. It’s in the second half that things perk up a little. The element of “two perspectives on the same reality” had potential and could have been more intriguingly handled. But is not. On the other hand, there are some unintentionally funny moments. Like Nisha, when bringing a drunk Vikram to her house, says “Ye kaafi bhaari hai,” much to the amusement of the audience. Some supposedly deep lines, like “Jahan jaane se darta hai, jawab wahin se milta hai”, actually shed little light, offering no clarity on the mystery of the missing heroine.

And then there are the Bhatt regulars—popular ditties like Teri Jhuki Nazar and Hasratein baar baar yaar ki karo, skin show by foreign women, a heroine who steps into the tub, shower and towel, by turns, and displays more than her bare back.

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