raat akeli hai
Netflix
*ing: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Illa Arun, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Shivani Raghuvanshi
Rated: 6/10
It is rare for Bollywood to make a movie on a murder-mystery and keep the suspense till the very end. There would probably be only a dozen or so such films that have managed to keep one guessing till the very end starting from Mahal, Bees Saal Baad to Khamosh.
Kudos to writer Smita Singh who has managed to introduce so many twists and turns and throw you off guard in a thriller that finds itself caught up in a family drama that comes with its share of dynamics. At two-hour and 30 minutes one would have thought that the movie is too long but once you sit down to watch till the time the credits roll you wonder where the time has gone, such is the interest the movie is able to generate amid the nexus between the police and the local politician and the politician and his goon. Throw in a policewallah, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Inspector Jatil Yadav), who is hell bent on finding the truth and you have the perfect setting.
The film is grim as it progresses and exposes Raghubeer Singh (found dead on his wedding night) a powerful and politically connected businessman in Kanpur yet there are lighter moments. Take an example. Our Inspector’s mother, played beautifully by Illa Arun, quest to find a bahu for Yadav makes you smile.
In fact, it is his performance that keeps you engrossed here. The ease with which he plays the small-town cop his drive to find the murderer is what makes Raat Akeli Hai a must watch. It is unfortunate that the movie was released on an OTT platform, on the big screen it would have been awesome.
