Planning to watch HIT: The First Case this weekend? Read our review of this Rajkummar Rao film
Film: HIT: The First Case
Director: Dr. Sailesh Kolanu
Star Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Milind Gunaji
Platform: Theatrical
Rating: 3 Stars
Murder mystery is among the most under utilized genre in the Hindi Film Industry. And a well made murder mystery is even rare. This week's release, HIT: The First Case, fronted by Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra, is a murder mystery, which is gripping in the investigative portions but loses the plot when it comes to the element of mystery. It's a remake of a Telugu Film, and for those unaware, even that suffered from the curse of the climax.
Director Sailesh Kolanu does well to build the ambience of a thriller, by slowly taking the audience into the dark world of twisted characters. He also tactfully infuses the personal story of his protagonist into the narrative, without deviating much from the core conflict of the film. But as mentioned above, the entire build up goes for a toss seeing how things unfold towards the finale. The reasoning is absurd and dilutes the entire impact of an otherwise intriguing story. In a nutshell, what happens is fascinating, but that's not justified well. On the idea front, HIT: The First Case, is a winner, but we wish the makers had tweaked the finale from the original to leave a better impact.
The cinematography is breath-taking and special credit to the production team too for the same since the film has been shot entirely in the pandemic. The production values are also rich, and adequate for the genre of the film. The music is decent, whereas some of the dialogues with humourous undertones work well in the narrative. The editing is also crisp, as the film moves at a fast pace, but the issue lies in the writing front. A thriller can't be impactful without a fitting finale and that's exactly the factor that goes against HIT: The First Case. While the male characters are well written, getting the desired arc, the female characters deserved some more depth in the writing. A more layered writing would have provided some context to all that unfolds in the finale.
Speaking of performances, Rajkummar Rao is fine as a cop, especially in the investigating sequences of the film. However, he is a little off the mark in the emotional moments. Sanya Malhotra does well in the role, but she suffers due to a not so well written character. Milind Gunaji does well in the role of Inspector Ibrahim, however, his character too could have had a better arc. The rest of the members in the ensemble do well in their respective smaller parts.
Overall, HIT: The First Case hits the bulls eye in the first half, but falls flat in the second. It's an honest attempt to bring the thriller for the Hindi audience, but it just doesn't translate into a memorable experience due to the final 25 minutes.
0 Comments